Frozen : Battletech The Ice Duchess of the Federated Commonwealth
by The Frozen Guy
Summary: The Year is 3053. The Clan Invasion has ended with the Truce of Tukayyid. In the uneasy peace, Victor Steiner-Davion is recalled by his parents to begin preparing for his future as Archon-Prince. His first task? Attend the investment of Duchess Elsa Jorgensson on the world of Arendelle as the representative of his parents. A straight forward, ceremonial task. What could go wrong?
1. Prolouge

Hi All.

This may not be the most sane idea I've ever had.

But when you see an idea and then it gets stuck in your head ... and you just cannot get it out of your head so you have to write it down...  
I mean, Frozen and Battletech don't SEEM to be natural crossover material ... but then BOOM, it cannot get out of your head.  
There will also be a degree of Tangled in here - but heavily redone, mostly in the background just to get Rapunzel into the mix as seen in Frozen when she showed up at the Coronation in the background. NO magic hair or anything like that. Sticking with the widely accepted fanon that Elsa/Annas Father and Rapunzels Mother are siblings, making Elsa/Anna and Rapunzel First cousins.

To lay out the basics; this is a Frozen-Battletech fusion. Retelling the events of the movie in the context of Arendelle being a planet in the Inner Sphere, in the Federated Suns, set in the 3050s. Elsa the Duchess Apparent about to be invested. The timeline below is a pretty standard Battletech timeline - major differences or key differences are bolded and underlined, most of them occur towards the end of the timeline.

But if you want them, here are the tree TLDR key contemporary background differences in Btech terms;

1. Hanse Davion did NOT die in 3052. He did have a heart attack, but it was mild, he survived and is being forced by his wife and core of advisers to take it easy. This annoys him ... but it annoys him much less then Melissa giving him that 'flinty' look she can do so well. As part of this, Victor is being pulled from the 10th Lyran into political duties - albeit on a much smaller scale than in the OTL. And under the watchful gaze of both his parents and other advisers.

2. Focht Let It Go and embraced a bit of his inner Lestrade to actually perform a _competent_ purge of the upper levels of ComStar rather then blissfully letting the core of what would become the WOB just walk away or get set into place after shooting Myndo. Including most of ROM.

3. Hanse doesn't agree to just let Candace run around and avenge Justin and leave it at that. _This_ time, he issues her an ultimatum. Either she will stop poking from the sidelines and actually _take up the burden_ of protecting her people ... or he'll have to deal with the situation _his way_.  
Candace agrees. AKA, Romano and her family are dead and Candace now rules the Confederation as an allied state of the Federated Commonwealth.

**I am _always _open for any comments, reviews or feedback anyone wants to give.**

* * *

**Timeline of Key Events in the Universe**

**Note, key changes or additions from the canon Btech timeline are bolded and underlined.**

2108 - First ever FTL voyage of a Jump Ship to another solar systems

2116 - First colony established on Tau Alpha Ceti IV (New Earth)

2213 - New Avalon settled

2315 - Formation of the Terran Hegemony.

**2316 - Arendelle settled**

2317 - Formation of the Federated Suns

**2377 - Corona settled**

2439 - The Mackie MCK-5S BattleMech is developed

2571 - Formation of the Star League

2578 - The Reunification War begins

2597 - The Reunification War ends. 'Golden Age' of Mankind begins

2700 - Aleksandr Kerensky is born

**2751 - The Federated Suns Military begins ultra-secret genetic engineering experiments on Arendelle. Codenamed Project Shantipole, they are in response to the Star League authorizing the Houses to double their military size, seeking a unique edge for the AFFS in human genetic enhancement.  
**

**2754 - Project Shatipole is terminated by direct order of First Prince John Davion. All traces of the project are removed from official Federated Suns records. All known test data is purged, the First Prince fearing some kind of eugenics arms might start given the rising tensions - a can of worms he is _not _prepared to open. However unknown to the First Prince, the project had moved beyond simulation into an actual test subject. Rather than terminate her to cover up everything, the sympathetic project team quietly give her a new identity and release her into the local community to live in peace, destroying any records of her former existence.  
**

**2762 - Hans Ole Jorgensson, second son to the Duke of Arendelle, is born. The Dukes wife is also the sole survivor from Shatipole. This fact is not known beyond the couple who take the secret to their graves.**

2767 - Golden Age of Mankind ends with assassination of First Lord Richard Cameron by Stephan Amaris

2767 - Star League Civil War begins. Aleksandr Kerensky commits the Star League Defense Forces into a twelve year-long campaign to oust the usurper Amaris. The other Houses do not hinder the SLDF, nor do they help them.

2779 - Terra is recaptured and Amaris is executed, Star League Civil War ends. But there is no clear heir to the throne of the Star League thanks to the destruction of all known house Cameron heirs. All the major houses of the Inner Sphere begin jockeying for position to press their own claim. Less than a quarter of the once mighty SLDF remains intact and the Terran Hegemony, core of the Star League, is ruined thanks to the bloody war.

2781 - Dissolution of the High Council. The Council Lords fail to choose a new First Lord and dissolve. Technically the Star League remains in force, but with no First Lord in place. General War between the Star League member states is increasingly considered inevitable, held in check only by the uncertainty of the intentions and loyalty of the SLDF.

2784 - Operation Exodus. Pressed from all sides to become kingmaker by bringing the still formidable might of the SLDF to one of the House Lords banners, Kerensky instead leads an exodus of 80% of the remaining SLDF into unknown space. The remaining 20% either muster back to the armies of the Houses they were originally from, retire, or become Mercenaries. Among those going with Kerensky is Hans Ole Jorgensson, who while very tempted to stay and return to his family, knows they will never accept his Capellan Wife he met while in the SLDF, Sandra Tseng. No-one in the Inner Sphere will know what happened to them for a very long time.

2786 - Minoru Kurita formally declares himself the First Lord of the Star League and demands recognition of this claim from the other Houses. In rapid succession, every other House Lord also declare themselves to be the rightful First Lord.

2786 - The Star League Hyperpulse Generator network, providing FTL communications through the Inner Sphere is placed into the hands of ComStar; a new organization built from the various corporations who owned it during the Star League led by Jerome Blake, the former Star League Minister for Communications. Their mandate is to maintain the FTL communications systems vital for communications, trade and commerce across the various houses. ComStar also seize Terra, humanities homeworld, officially announcing they will hold it in trust until such time as a new First Lord is acknowledged. All House Lords agree to honor their neutrality, for various reasons. Over the centuries however - and primarily due to the machinations of Conrad Toyama, Blakes successor, the organization will mutate from a neutral not-for-profit caretaker into a pseudo religious cult that sees itself as the savoir of mankind, Blake as a Prophet and their destiny to rule the Inner Sphere.

2787 - The Succession Wars begin. The most destructive conflict in the history of mankind bar none, the Succession Wars are generally divided up into four discreet wars by historians. Nominally, the war is over the Throne of the Star League but they are used primarily to try and settle old scores and long held grievances. The wars rapidly scale up into total war with each nation seeking to destroy the others ability to sustain high tempo industrialized warfare. Military units are set loose against key industrial centers, technology centers and civilian targets key to maintaining advanced armies and fleets. Warships and planetary bombardments, nuclear, biological and chemical weapons are all widely used; very quickly the death toll reaches horrific proportions. The Terran Hegemony, with no leadership or real Government ceases to exist and its worlds are essentially divided up between the other Houses, excepting Terra itself which ComStar continues to hold unchallenged.

2821 - The First Succession Wars ends. After over thirty years of war, the Inner Sphere has been catastrophically damaged with many planets devastated and economies ruined. Enormous amounts of advanced technology are lost and even more disastrously, so is the scientific and engineering knowledge itself fundamental to said technology. ComStar push along this rapid loss of technology along quietly in the background with surgical strikes against centers of higher learning, key scientists and other such critical targets, pointing the finger at other powers, who in turn retaliate. This serves ComStars purposes to become the single controller of all advanced technology in the long run, making the Successor States increasingly dependent on their services. The war ends mostly due to the fact that every powers military is exhausted and needs time to try and rebuild before continuing the fight. The real danger of total loss of advanced scientific understanding across all of mankind is not yet fully realized by the warring parties.

2830 - The Second Succession War begins. Much the same as the First Succession War, if on a smaller scale due to the reduced size of their armies, policy now becomes to ruthlessly destroy _any_ major technological or industrial advantage held by the other side while protecting their own. The Inner Sphere sinks on average to a 20th century / 21st century level of technology, with but a few key worlds able to produce any really advanced technology. Terraforming technology required to keep any number of worlds habitable becomes lost and entire planets are abandoned and left to die as a result. Much advanced medical technology is also lost. Most alarmingly, the ability to build FTL capable Starships is lost, outside of a handful of remaining automated factories from the Star League era. The word 'LosTech', a portmanteau of lost (or loss of) technology comes into being, defining all advanced technology that humanity can no longer build from this point forward.

2864 - The Second Succession War ends.

2866 - The Third succession War begins. Vastly more limited than the first two wars, total war is completely abandoned as a concept out of necessity for human civilisation survival. Official and unofficial -but none the less absolutely adhered to- rules of war govern battles from this point forward. Factories are to never be destroyed or fought in, but fought over with the winner getting the spoils and the looser the knowledge that they can try to take it again another day. Battles are rarely fought to the death but to the point where a victor is clear. Mechwarriors and technicians are ransomed - and their equipment is typically ransomed with them, rather than being destroyed. BattleMechs are often handed down generation to generation. Large movements of troops and armies become increasingly unheard of due to the diminished number of jumpships, meaning small unit raids of BattleMechs with significant numbers of infantry become far more common than large invasions using combined arms. Jumpships themselves become absolutely off limits to attack, even among worst enemies, as are the few shipyards capable of building them. Combat Jumpships (or Warships) are long extinct. BattleMech are the kings of the Battlefield and focus of armed conflict, but their components such as fusion reactors become increasingly scarce and hard to build. Tanks and other vehicles increasingly become simplified as their reactors and other advanced technology are stripped to keep the BattleMech forces of the House Lords going.

This 'slow burn' war continues for a hundred and fifty years. ComStar work hard through this time to squash any sign of a technological recovery or renascence. Still thought of largely as entirely neutral guardians of the precious HPG network, their control of information flows across the Inner Sphere gives them incredible power - as does their secret hoard of Star League technology and knowledge on Terra, long since closed off to the rest of mankind. They continue to wait patiently for the right time to move openly and seize control of mankind into a Blakist theocracy wildly alien from anything Blake himself ever imagined or would have wanted.

2960 - ComStar creates the Explorer Corps. A covert recon group charged with trying to find out what happened to the SLDF after they vanished, using long range Scout jumpships.

2964 - Maximilian Liao is born

2976 - Katrina Steiner is born

2983 - Hanse Davion is born

**2991 - Anton Beaulieu, heir Apparent to the Dutchess of Corona is born**

3005 - The mysterious Mercenary unit Wolf's Dragoons enters the Inner Sphere, under the command of Jamie and Joshua wolf. An independent force of five regiments of Battlemechs in excellent condition with their own Jumpships and support arms is all but unheard of in this day and age. Yet they refuse to say where they came from. The generally accepted theory is that they were Inner Sphere or Periphery soldiers who had the blindly good luck to stumble onto an ancient hidden SLDF depot somewhere in the Periphery and used it to build a Mercenary unit. The Dragoons neither confirm nor deny this assumption. They proceed over the next fifty years to systematically work for every great power in the Inner Sphere, starting with the Federated Suns, followed by the Capellan Confederation, Free Worlds League, Lyran Commonwealth and Draconis Combine.

3007 - Katrina Steiner deposes her uncle and becomes Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth

3010 - Melissa Steiner is born

**3010 - Idun Jorgensson, heir Apparent to the Duke of Arendelle is born**

**3012 - Karoline Iversen is born**

3013 - Hanse Davion becomes First Prince of the Federated Suns upon the death of his older brother Ian

**3014 - Adgar Iversen is born**

3015 - Hanse Davion discovers a vast storehouse of Star League era books buried on the planet Halstead Station and recovers most of them against furious opposition from the Draconis Combine. Determined to stop the slide of mankind back into the dark ages, he commits the Davions personal funds to the construction of the New Avalon Institute of Science, sparing no expense in building a highly secure, modern centre of higher learning. The Halstead Collection as it is known, becomes the core of this effort, concentrated in one place rather than scattered to any number of institutions, it has a dramatic cross-discipline effect on Davion R&D. ComStar desperately attempt to covertly sabotage, infiltrate and destroy the NAIS from this point forward to 3052 but fail due to extreme levels of security and fortification put in place.

3020 - Archon Katrina Steiner sends out a formal Peace Proposal to all the Great Houses, in which she suggests that the Succession Wars have gone on for far too long and gotten humanity only misery. Her proposal is somewhat vague and rejected out of hand by the Draconis Combine, Free Worlds League and Capellan Confederation. However the Federated Suns who never had any real conflicts with the Lyran state, use the opportunity to establish a far ranging dialogue between Hanse Davion and Katrina Steiner.

3022 - After two years of highly fruitful discussions, Hanse and Katrina decide to seize the moment and change the course of history. They announce the Federated Commonwealth treaty to a stunned Inner Sphere. A union of the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth, arguably the strongest military and strongest economy in the Inner Sphere respectively. The unification will be accomplished through the marriage of Hanse to the Archons only daughter, Melissa with their heir inheriting both thrones as Archon-Prince, a single super state the likes of which has not been seen since the Star League era.

3022 - The three remaining powers in the Combine, Confederation and FWL sign the Concord of Kapteyn. Theoretically balancing the power of the nascent Federated Commonwealth, it is not a union of states but a mutual defense pact heavily pushed quietly by ComStar. Mutual loathing and distrust between the Free Worlds League and Capellan Confederation ensures however that it is little more than a vague agreement to stand opposed to the Federated Commonwealth. ComStars leaders also firmly put the Federated Commonwealth in their sights as their number one threat.

3022 - The Third Succession War is generally considered to end with the Federated Commonwealth treaty signing.

3023 - Hohiro Kurita is born

3025 - Agents of House Liao almost succeed in a plan to replace Hanse Davion with a double under their control. The plot is foiled by Arden Sortek, Hanse Davions close friend. The imposter is found to have been brutally brainwashed and heavily surgically modified to such a degree that he truly thinks he is Hanse Davion. Appalled at the idea of completely destroying everything that makes a human being unique and rebuilding them in this manner - and furious at the outright act of war - Hanse Davion privately vows revenge against the Capellan Confederations leader, Maximilian Liao.

3026 - The mercenary unit, The Grey Death Legion, recovers a Star League era computer core from the planet Helm. Known colloquially as the Helm Memory Core or Grey Death Legion core, the computer databases contained in the core make even the great find of Halstead Station pale in comparison. ComStar make heroic efforts to covertly destroy every copy of the core, but two copies slip through their net and make their way secretly to both Luthien and, more disastrously, to the NAIS who at once begin working to explore and exploit the priceless knowledge therein.

3027 - Galen Cox is born

**3027 - Anton Beaulieu and Karoline Iversen are married**

3028 - Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner marry on Terra, neutral ground, in front of the assembled nobility of the Inner Sphere. At their wedding reception, Hanse Davion gives perhaps the most famous wedding toast in history when he announces to his wife her wedding present; the Capellan Confederation.

3028 - The Fourth Succession War begins. The Lyran Commonwealth seizes over fifty worlds from the Combine. The Free Worlds League is beset by internal divisions that prevent it taking any real role, The AFFS meanwhile devote almost all of their forces into attacking the Capellans. It is a masterpiece of logistical work unseen since the days of the Second Succession war, with the Capellans simply overwhelmed by the staggered waves of elite troops seeking out and destroying their armed forces with overwhelming force. With their own command structure hopelessly compromised by Davion spies and a final betrayal by Candace Liao that removes an entire duchy from the Confederation, the Confederation is left a shadow of its former self. ComStar attempt to intervene by staging an attack on a Federated Suns HPG station and using it as justification to cut all FTL communications across the Federated Suns. While a serious disruption that probably saves the Confederation from a deathblow, it does not stop fully half of the Confederation from being assimilated into the Federated Commonwealth.

3028 - ComStar find out about the memory core at NAIS and proceed to attempt a one-way sneak assault on NAIS to destroy it, posing as the Capellan Death Commandos during the 4th Succession War. Unfortunately for them, this attempt is not simply beaten back personally by Hanse Davion, Team Banzai and the Davion Heavy Guards, but the _real_ Death Commandos are conclusively proven to be fighting on Kathil at that exact same time. Combined with the previous attack on the HPG that the AFFS proved was staged – but was thought to be a Capellan false flag operation, Hanse Davion gains strong suspicions that ComStar is a hostile power actively working against the Federated Suns/Federated Commonwealth. Accordingly, he treats them as a nominally hostile but necessary power from this point forward and a shadow war begins between the Federated Commonwealths intelligence agencies and ROM, ComStars own intelligence service.

**3029 - While being courted by Adgar Iversen, Idun Jorgensson stumbles onto Melissa Steiner-Davion on New Avalon - despite her presence being a closely held secret as she works to conceive a heir with Hanse. She promptly becomes an extended 'guest' of Hanse, Melissa and MIIO in the Davion Palace for some months ... but the newly married couple cannot help but warm to her presence as she appears completely indifferent to her status of being essentially being under house arrest as a result of her discovery. Along with ****Kym Sorenson****, she becomes one of Melissa's closest friends while on New Avalon, also coming to know Morgan Hasek-Davion and Ardan Sortek reasonably well.**

**3029/3030 - Idun Jorgensson and Adgar Iversen are married. Melissa Steiner Davion is a hidden guest at the private wedding - a fact known to Idun but not Adgar - before Melissa leaves for Tharkard via a Command Circuit of Jumpships. Shortly after, Idun and Adgar leave New Avalon for Arendelle.**

3030 - The Federated Commonwealth declares victory and an end to the 4th Succession War. The strategic balance of power in the Inner Sphere is clearly shifted firmly in favor of the Federated Commonwealth and ComStar, under new Primus Myndo Waterly, scramble to address the situation as their long range plans stand now in ruins. The first step in addressing this is the official formation (and major expansion) of the ComStar Guards –or ComGuards- as an independent military force under ComStar control, nominally to protect their HPGs from attacks like the one suffered in the 4th Succession War. Although dispersed across the Inner Sphere, it will eventually by necessity of the number of stations that need covering, become a significant force.

3030 - Victor Ian Steiner Davion is born

3030 - Kai Allard-Liao is born

3031 - Sun-Tzu Liao is born

**3032 - Elsa Jorgensson, heir Apparent to the Dutchess of Arendelle is born**

**3032 - Rapunzel Beaulieu, heir Apparent to the Duke of Corona is born.**

3032 - Spearheaded by the NAIS, advanced Star League weapons technology starts to go back into limited production in the Federated Commonwealth, again despite ComStars best covert attempts to slow down the technological recovery. With little choice to maintain the balance of power, ComStar starts covert negotiations with the Combine to supply them with advanced Star League era Battlemechs from their own significant stores 'under the table', knowing that sooner rather than later, the Federated Commonwealth will seek to finish the Combine off now that the Capellans are crippled.

3034 - The Ronin Wars. The Lyran gains in the 4th Succession war are undermined in a strategic masterstroke by the Combine when Theodore Kurita declares the formation of the Free Rasalhague Republic, a new nation whose stated borders mostly include worlds the Lyrans captured from the Combine by the Combine nominally held to be theirs. As Katrina Steiner was nominally fighting to liberate these worlds on behalf of the native Rasalhague population, she is put in a politically impossible position and acquiesces to turning over the hard won gains, to the fury of certain Lyran factions. Some hard-line DCMS units, equally furious at such a 'dishonorable' action by Theodore go rogue to 'hold Rasalhague for the Combine and Coordinator'. They are Declared 'Ronin' or master-less bandits. After a time when the rogue units prove very difficult for the nascent FRR Armed Forces to deal with, Theodore then brings loyal DCMS units in to help and ruthlessly crushes the Ronin, before withdrawing back to the Combine. Grateful, the FRR now strives to maintain a neutral balance between the Federated Commonwealth and Combine - despite the fact that only a decade ago they had been furiously trying to fight for their freedom from said Combine. Theodore has essentially 'flipped' the strategic gains of the 4th Succession War for the Federated Commonwealth into a neutral buffer state, caused much unrest for the Federated Commonwealth and eliminated any number of units resistant to the sweeping changes he was pushing down on the DCMS, partially breaking the power of his highly traditional Father Takshi in the process. Many people will consider this the greatest political triumph of his life.

**3035 - Anna Jorgensson is born**

3036 - Maximilian Liao dies, reportedly by suicide but is actually killed by his daughter, who ascends formally to the throne, having essentially ruled Sian for the last six years. She at once chooses to wield fear, terror and brutality as her primary tools to hold onto power.

3039 - War of 3039 is fought - unofficially often considered either the 5th Succession War or 'Succession War 4.5'. The combined forces of the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth finally launch their long expected attack on the Draconis Combine. A combination of sloppy planning and overconfidence combined with heroic work by Theodore Kurita over the last decade to rebuild the DCMS into a force capable of fighting the Federated Commonwealth causes the initial invasion to grind to an unexpected halt. Seizing the chance, against all apparent strategic logic, Theodore unleashes his ComStar supplied advanced Battlemechs in an offensive that captures a number of Davion worlds, including the important Battlemech producing world of Quentin. The unexpected skill, advanced technology, new Battlemechs and show of much greater strength than expected cause the Federated Commonwealth to lose their nerve and break off the attack, agreeing to a peace treaty by the end of the year. It would be almost a decade before the FedCom powers would realize they had been bluffed; the Combine had been pushed to the breaking point against the sheer numbers of troops being fielded against it and the counter-thrust had exhausted what reserves the Combine had. None the less, the Federated Commonwealth still paints the campaign as a victory. But among the populations of the two nations who remember the heady days of the 4th Succession War, it is generally seen as a strategic defeat - albeit a limited one.

3040 - Generally considered to be the end of the Succession Wars

**3040 - While playing in their parent's throne room in the middle of the night, an 8 year old Elsa Jorgensson who possesses incredible, seemingly magical cryokinetic powers accidentally uses them upon her sister Anna. While her sister's life is saved and memory of the events removed from Annas mind through the intervention of mystic and mysterious 'monks' living in the hills outside of the planetary Capital, her parents consider it far too dangerous to keep them together. At first they just attempt to limit their time together, but Elsa's terror that she may hurt her sister again soon makes things untenable and they are split up in 3042, with Elsa being moved to an estate elsewhere on the planet. There Elsa is isolated from most human contact as she struggles to conceal her powers. In the aftermath of the indecisive 3039 war, her parents are simply terrified that if her abilities became public knowledge, she would be viewed as little more than a weapon to be employed or dissected to gain advantage for any of the varied House Lords or other power players and so they work to hide the truth as best they can and impress on their daughter the necessity. Neither sister will see each other in the flesh or have all but the most basic one-way communication with the other for a very long time. While Elsa lives in full knowledge and full memory of what happened and why she must remain alone, Anna is not told why her Sister is suddenly stripped from her life beyond vague statements of her needing to 'prepare to become the future Duchess'.**

**3041 - The Periphery March is formed in the Federated Suns. Major tax incentives, economic incentives and technology offers are made to lure Lyran capital into the resource rich but people poor area. Moderate success will be gained by the end of this decade. Although there will be some grumbling that the Lyrans are simply buying up whole planets to be little more than giant resource piles, there is a slow but very clear rise in the civilian standard of living. The 'outbacks' economic activity is trending upwards as a result, for the first time in forever. Boldly, certain Mega-Corporations increasingly look further afield for economic opportunities in the 'Suns half of the Commonwealth.  
**

3048 - A state of strategic stasis exists in the Inner Sphere between the end of the 3039 war and 3048. Limited raids are made back and forth, but the Federated Commonwealth invests most of its time, energy and resources into exploiting the economic opportunities of the union of states, continuing to recover and develop ever more advanced technology to greatly improve their populations standard of living. The Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth, unifying both states military forces come into being in an attempt to rectify the problems identified in 3039 and they too benefit from the economic boom, with increasing production of increasingly sophisticated technology making itself known. The Combine and Free Worlds League generally match the technological advances of Commonwealth quickly, partially due to their own R&D efforts but also partially due to discrete 'leaks' by ComStar to maintain as level playing field as possible in an attempt to maintain some kind of counterweights to the growing dominance of the Steiner-Davion alliance. The FedCom nations, firmly controlling the balance of power however seem content to let their economies continue to expand and grow in relative peace, with most analysts predicting an inevitable long term capitulation by the other Successor States as the gap is predicted to only widen over time in favor of the mega power.

**3048 – Massive deposits of Germanium –critical for Jumpship production- are discovered in the equatorial desert regions of Arendelle, along with incredible deposits of rare earth elements in th Northern mountains, during an extensive survey called in for the first time in centuries. How the deposits were missed so long ago is completely unclear, but they are confirmed. News of these finds predict a massive export economic boom for the planet and the surrounding systems in the decades to come.**

3048 - The ComStar Explorer Corps ship _Outbound Light_ succeeds in the mission to find out what happened to the SLDF after they vanished from the Inner Sphere. Unfortunately, they discover that the SLDFs descendants have twisted and warped themselves into a loose competing federation of military states known as the Clans of Kerensky. Entirely dedicated to war and armed with technology even above that of the Star League, they have been waiting for centuries in the darkness a thousand light years from the edge of the Periphery. Led by genetically engineered warriors grown in artificial wombs and raised for nothing but war, they are almost an alien society culturally compared to any of the states back in the Inner Sphere, with a cast based system of 'civilians' treated as little more than property to support warriors playing at war.  
Politically, they are divided into two main ideological factions known as the 'Wardens' and 'Crusaders'. The former who see their role to stand apart from the Inner Sphere and only step back in should a threat great enough to threaten mankind itself show up. The later who dream of returning to the Inner Sphere in glorious conquest, overthrowing all Governments and ruling humanity in a twisted parody of the Star League based on their own society, seeing themselves as the pure descendants and the only rightful Heirs to the Throne of Man.  
Unfortunately for the Inner Sphere, _Outbound Light_ is captured by one of the most hard line Crusader Factions, the Smoke Jaguars. Interrogating the crew ruthlessly, they gain a good understanding of the current state of the Inner Sphere and call for a meeting of the Grand Council, the joint Governing body of the Clans. There, they carefully and selectively present the 'truth' about the Inner Sphere, painting a picture of the Federated Commonwealth absorbing the rest of the Inner Sphere, declaring itself the Star league reborn and eventually becoming powerful enough to find and conquer the Clans. Horrified by such sacrilege, 16 of the 17 Clans vote to immediately commence 'Operation Revival' - a full scale invasion of the Inner Sphere.

3049 - The lead elements of the Clans forces arrive at the edge of the Inner Sphere. Four Clans will commence the invasion, their goal being Terra, former throne world of the Star League. Three more Clans are held in reserve. Outlying pirate and periphery worlds are overrun almost immediately, with little word getting out. ComStar does get scattered reports and intrigued, sends a representative to investigate and parlay with these strangers. The Wolf's Dragoons, in fact an advanced force nominally sent to scout the Inner Sphere on behalf of the Clans, are formally sent a recall order to return to the Clans with all the strategic data they have gathered. Only one warrior, Natasha Kerensky, heeds the order. The rest begin preparing to protect their adopted home, turning their back on the Clans and formally being declared rogue and outcasts.

3050 - Operation Revival is launched. The Clans over the next two years will cut a vast swath through the Inner Sphere, heavily damaging the Lyran Commonwealth, Draconis Combine and all but destroying the short lived Free Rasalhague Republic. ComStar make contact with and eventually will become silent partners with the Clans, seeing them as a unique tool to crush the Successor States, while the Successor States in turn weaken the Clans. Allowing them to move into the aftermath and crush both sides. They are unaware at this time that the Clans goal is Terra. ComStar are soon employed by the Clans to act as Administrators on conquered worlds on their behalf, allowing the Clans to simply move on with minimal garrison forces left behind as ComStar keep things under control on their behalf.

**3050 - Idun Jorgensson and Adgar Iversen die in a Dropship accident. Sadly, this trip had been planned to personally call on Hanse Davion to beg for help and compassion for their Daughter Elsa, whose control over her powers and mental state are becoming increasing concerns to her parents. Not knowing of Elsas unique gifts, Hanse Davion appoints a regent for her until she will reach her majority and be able to take the position of Duchess herself. Grieving over their parents loss and feeling entirely unable to handle the responsibility of Anna in her current state on top of all the other issues between them, Elsa has Anna sent to live with their cousin (on their father's side) Rapunzel Beaulieu as she starts preparing to assume her position as ruler of a world.**

3051 - The year of peace. The Clans war leader is killed in a suicide attack run by an Inner Sphere pilot named Tyra Miraborg. As a result, the invasion halts for a full year while they elect a new leader, consolidate and bring in additional Clans for reinforcements. The Inner Sphere uses the time to prepare as best it can. Most critically perhaps, the first seeds of a strong friendship between Victor Steiner Davion, Kai Allard-Liao and Hohiro Kurita are forged during a major conference between all Inner Sphere heads of state to discuss the Clan threat. It will grow stronger through the year after Victor, after a request from Hohiros sister Omi, crosses the Combine border and rescues the Prince of the Combine from a Nova Cat force when the Clans return. An unofficial handshake agreement is made between Theodore Kurita, Son of ruler Takashi and defacto Warlord of the Combine and Hanse Davion, to respect each others borders while the Clan threat remains – with the provision that if Romano Liao does anything stupid, the Combine will not make waves against the Federated Commonwealth. Theodore is happy to the provision, Romanos behavior during the conference being entirely unhelpful, hostile and downright and appalling among the gathered Lords.

3051 - Battle of Luthien. The Draconis Captial comes under an all-out attack by the forces of Clans Nova Cat and Smoke Jaguar. Hanse Davion, not wanting the Combine to collapse under the Clan threat moves from a truce with the Combine to active assistance, sending the Wolf's Dragoons and Kell Hounds mercenary units who prove critical to holding the capital and defeating the invasion. Now firmly working together to fight the Clans, the Combine/Suns/Commonwealth borders are largely, though not entirely, demilitarized, freeing masses of reserve troops to face the Clans.

3051 - Justin Allard, Minster for Intelligence to Hanse Davion, is assassinated by the Capellan Confederation. Candice Liao is wounded in the attack, but officially announced as dead while she recovers, a secret held very close.

**3051 - Hanse Davion orders 'Operation Reciprocity' to be prepared, furious at the Capellans playing politics, especially after coming to an understanding with the Combine who he had always seen as his biggest enemy. Theodore through back channels lets it be known to Hanse that he is washing his hands of the matter and will not object to Hanse's plans - whatever they may be, having far bigger issues to worry about for his nation. Hanse in turn issues what amounts to an ultimatum to Candice over the Capellan Confederation.**

3052 - The Battle of Tukayyid. ComStar discover the Clans ultimate objective is Terra. Deciding to fight them before they reach Terra, a proxy battle for the world is arranged on the planet of Tukayyid. The ComGuards are unleashed; fifty Regiments of Battlemechs along with many times over in supporting face off against twenty five Clan 'Galaxies' (Clan field armies). If the Clans win, Terra will be given to the first Clan who reaches it. If ComStar wins, the Clans will cease their invasion for fifteen years. ComStar take heavy losses, but triumph in defeating four Clans, drawing against two and losing to one. The defeat shocks the Clans, but honor bound by their agreement, the Clans are now unable to advance further into the Inner Sphere than the planet Tukayyid. It does not mean they cannot attack as the 'truce line' leaves a great many Inner Sphere worlds above it open to conquest, but the Clan Invasion essentially ends.

3052 - Simultaneously, the somewhat insane Primus Myndo Waterly of ComStar puts into motion her plans to finally seize control of the Inner Sphere. Thinking the Clans crushed by her ComGuards on Tukayyid and the Successor States heavily weakened, she orders ComStar administrators on conquered Clan Worlds to rise up and overthrow the Garrisons the Clans had left behind. She also orders the entire Inner Sphere HPG network shut down, hoping to cripple every Successor State and allow her to dictate terms of surrender to ComStar. Her plan is thwarted when Theodore Kurita is warned by a mole in ComStar of what is about to happen, who in turn passes on a warning to the Federated Commonwealth. Both nations promptly seize up to 80% of the HPGs in their realms; their recovered technology level has now risen sufficiently that their technical staff are able to operate the HPGs on their own – at least in the short term. The Clans promptly squash all the attempted uprisings on the worlds ComStar had taken in their invasion zones and move to start to fully integrate the worlds into their own culture.

3052 - Precentor ComGuard, Anastasius Focht, launches a coup after returning from Tukayyid and finding out what Primus Waterly has done, killing the Primus ** along with several dozen other senior ComStar personnel including several members of the First Circuit, ComStars Governing body. He then has his allies in ROM ruthlessly purge the higher ups of ComStars Intelligence Agency of the old guard still believing in ComStars manifest destiny. While there are still many at mid levels who believe in the manifest destiny of ComStar, they now lack any kind of nucleus, leader or resources to consolidate around or coordinate with. Most will be weeded out over time, convert their thinking, or simply retire. The new ComStar humbly admits its mistakes to the Successor States over Waterlys head and signs new service agreements to run the HPG network under closer over-watch, successfully banking on the stunning victory against the Clans that saved the Inner Sphere to give them credit against the actions of their former Primus. New service agreements codify that the HPGs are the property of the Successor States, but ComStar retains the full service contract and single supplier monopoly – as well as reaffirming its neutrality over handling messages across the Inner Sphere and affirming the right to station limited ComGuard forces at the HPG stations- are signed with all the Great Houses.**

**3052 - Operation Reciprocity is launched. 12 AFFC RCTs along with several regiments from the Saint Ives Compact and the Northwind Highlanders mercenary unit launch a decapitation strike on Sian and other key worlds in the Confederation. Romano is condemned by her own words as ordering the complete destruction of the planet with hidden WMDs for 'their total failure' as she attempts to flee, but she is stopped and killed by her sister, having 'risen' from the dead and snuck onto the planet to lie in wait for her. Her partner Tseng dies alongside her. The entire conversation with Romano giving the order to destroy the planet for failing her is rebroadcast across Sian and the Confederation by a helpful ComStar. What little loyalist support there had been mostly collapses at this confession, leaving little for the AFFC troops to mop up as units in droves promptly swear loyalty to the new regime. MIIO agents eliminate Kali Liao and Sun Tzu Liao who are off planet at the time, successfully framing their mother for the deed. In the weeks that follow, announcements of the re-joining of Saint Ives to the Confederation, the pending return of two thirds of the worlds lost in the 4****th**** Succession War and the formalization of an alliance with the Federated Commonwealth, including open markets and economic aide, dramatically increase support for Chancellor Cadence across the Confederation.**

**3052/3053 - Hanse Davion suffers a mild heart attack. Although he survives and receives the finest medical care at NAIS, he and Melissa take it as a warning sign and recall Victor late in the year. It is time for him to prepare to take on the role he was, quite literally, born for.**

**3053 - Elsa Jorgensson is to be formally to be invested as Dutchess of Arendelle, having reached her majority. Her sister Anna returns home to stay, accompanied by her cousin Rapunzel. This will be the first time in many long years the two sisters have had _any_ direct contact with each other. To the extreme surprise of the other guests and local nobility being invited, they find out that Victor Ian Steiner Davion, the heir to both the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth, will be attending as Acting March Lord of the Crucis March, along with Kai Allard Liao, Heir Presumptive to the Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation.  
Also tagging along is one Kommandant Galen Cox, a close friend and aide-de-camp to Victor.  
**


	2. Chapter 1

In an Inner Sphere kingdom, a ruler did appear.  
Born with a secret power so great, alone she stayed in fear.  
Although the force was well hidden, one day she let it go.  
And whole worlds will be covered in eternal ice and snow.

Yet if this day should come, hope should not be forsworn.  
This fate can be avoided - and a new one born.  
Hark well then, that for all of our Trothkins skill at war,  
Love by far, is the greatest power of all.

[[Poem recorded as final vision of Oathmaster Johnathan Drummond - May 14 3034]]  
[[Accessed Khan Severen Leroux - August 18 3053]]  
[[**RESTRICTED; KHAN, SAKHAN, LOREMASTER AND OATHMASTER EYES ONLY, August 18 3053**]]

**New Avalon  
Crucis March  
Federated Commonwealth  
April 03 - 3053**

"Arden said that you wanted to see me?"

Hanse Davion glanced up from the neat piles of paperwork that covered his desk, nodding to the figure at the door and gesturing to one of the seats opposite him. The other, dressed in the standard duty uniform of an AFFC MechWarrior entered at the invitation, returning the salutes offered by the two soldiers from the 1st Davion Guards standing guard as he did so before they exited the room, closing the door behind them.

Hanse set aside the files he had been working on, gathering them up and locking them in one of the secure desk draws. Opening another draw, he retrieved a new package of hard copy printouts and folders, pausing for but a moment to reflect on what these innocuous looking folders meant before he dropped them onto his desk and watched Victor sit down. An unexpected surge of pride hit him then, as he studied the easy and confident way his Son now wore his uniform – or more specifically, the way he wore everything that came with it, visible and invisible both.  
Victor was no child anymore, but Hanse couldn't help but study the man his Son had become seemingly overnight. Thrown into the deep end after graduation from the Nagelring four years ago, Victor had gone from a green soldier filled with that dangerous mix of youthful ignorance, impatience and invulnerability into a hardened combat veteran tempered in the fires of war.  
Like any parent, Hanse quietly hated the loss of his son's innocence … but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a surging pride in the fact that allowed a chance to sink or swim entirely on his own, that Victor had thrived in perhaps the ultimate test of a person's character. He had taken up the crushing burden of having people put their lives in his hands knowing that he would probably get at least some of them killed – yet he had not let it crush him or distort him. Far too many soldiers he knew had come back from the hell of war shattered and twisted mockeries who of what they had been beforehand.  
And far too many soldiers, would never have the chance to come back at all.

The Clan Invasion had been a catastrophe – there was not really any other way to put it. Not just his wife's half of the Federated Commonwealth, but also the Draconis Combine and the Free Rasahlahuge Republic. The former had lost almost a third of its worlds and almost had its capital overrun, the latter had been all but wiped out and existed now as little more than a sad joke, a footnote in a history book. And yet, the Clans _had_ been stopped for now, honor bound thanks to the sacrifices of ComStar and bloodied heavily by their ComGuards. They would not advance further for another thirteen years, time enough for the vastly larger industrial powers of the Inner Sphere to catch their breath, rebuild, unify after a fashion until finally they were ready to counter attack with overwhelming force and fury.

Such was the _theory_ anyway.

Hanse couldn't help but glance away from Victor for a moment as he settled himself, to take in once more the massive map pinned to one wall of his office that he still found more useful than any number of holotanks or computer screens. Over five meters across, the star map was festooned with various pins, sticky notes and scribbled markings showing unit locations and strengths, logistical webs, Jumpship chains and other various tell tail signs of an energetic contest between nation states to those who knew how to read them. A few months ago, such a map would have been focused at the 'top' of the Inner Sphere, where the daggers of the Clan Invasion corridors had become a depressingly permanent seeming border on the newest generation of such maps hanging in varied war rooms and command centres across known space. _This _map however, was focused on almost the exact opposite side of the Sphere, with red and green lines stabbing out of the gold of the Federated Suns half of the Commonwealth deep into the jade emerald of the Capellan Confederation.  
The fifth and smallest of the Successor States, that crazy idiot Romano had scoffed at the threat the Clans when the damning evidence of their prowess and power had been presented to them all on Outreach. While he could appreciate from a ruler's perspective that she saw no reason to bleed for her enemies, especially given that she was under no direct threat from the Clans, _he _had thought it blindingly obvious that it was in her interests to not to anything to compromise the Commonwealths unwilling defence of her realm. Even if only to ensure her various enemies did the maximum amount of damage to each other while she used the relative peace to rebuild her still shattered nation from the wreckage of the 4th Succession War – it was plain common sense.

He had clearly underestimated her insanity. Or perhaps, it would be more accurate to think that he had _overestimated_ the control her various retainers and family had over her decision making, compared to her father Maximilian. Because not even _he_ would have been so bold as to overtly order the assassination of one of Hanse closest advisors on his own capital world.  
Granted, given her and Justin's history, _she_ had probably seen it as a strictly Capellan event; a strike against Saint Ives and her 'traitor' Sister Candace, leader of the FedCom aligned breakaway Capellan region of the Saint Ives Compact. And granted, she also had no way of knowing that the Clan Invasion would come to a sudden halt shortly after, meaning that suddenly she would have the near undivided attention of the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth.

But even Romano should have damn well known that when predicting the reactions of an enemy, it didn't really matter what _you _thought, but what the _other _person might think of your actions.

The assassin who had killed Justin had also wounded Candace, her Sister and Justins wife in the same attack. It had been out of respect for them that for the longest time Hanse had limited his confrontations with the Confederation to defensive actions and limited objective raids that maintained the status quo left after the 4th Succession War. He knew perfectly well that Candace saw her Compact as the ultimate hedge; a lifeboat for the best of Capellan culture and society should the Confederation have been truly shattered during or after the 4th Succession War. He also knew full well that Candace truly loved the Confederation –through rose tinted glasses, but loved it none the less- and did not want to see its 'good' parts either destroyed or simply swallowed up by another state… but for all that he could _respect _that, Hanse had finally reached his limit.

Six months from Justins death and Romano, her Consort and her Children were merely slowly fading memories and pages in history books – and good riddance! Candace now sat on the Celestial Throne of Sian as Regent for her son, Kai who was expected to take the throne within another five years after Candace finished starting the hard work of rebuilding what Hanse had shattered twenty years ago. It was early days yet to be sure, but all signs looked remarkably promising; it seemed the people of the Confederation _did _appreciate sane and stable leadership after all and Candace had been remarkably competent in cutting out all of those who may have been loyal to the ideals of the old regime. The treaties that would bring the Confederation into the Federated Commonwealth alliance as an associated state were in their final drafting stages even now and were expected to be signed early next year. Already, planning was underway for limited numbers of Capellan troops to be deployed to the Clan Front by late next year, even as a large number of units in the Capellan March started shipping across to the Lyran State Command, causing Nondi Steiner to actually smile once in a while – an event about as rare as a warm Tharkard winter. Map lines were even now being redrawn across the Inner Sphere to show a large bulk of his wife's 'Wedding Present' being nominally subsumed back into the Confederation – even if little to nothing would change on those worlds besides flags, anthems and holidays, as Candace took on the daunting task of restricting Capellan society into something rather more _acceptable_ to her new allies before any _real _turnover would happen.

The coup had been surprisingly bloodless on the whole; a handful of Capellan units who would certainly not have approved of the new order had been dogpiled by elite FedCom RCTs in something more along the lines of a live fire exercise for new Mechwarriors and prototype next generation Mech Designs starting to come off the production line, than a struggle between great nation states. Many other people had been quietly 'eliminated' across the Confederation in dark alleys and at the end of sniper rifles to be sure, but ultimately a Successor State had fallen in less than four days with less than ten thousand people dead. And with that boil lanced, Hanse had been able to start giving more time to other matters that had built up over the last year.

Such as Victor.

Turning back to face his Son from the map on the wall, Hanse appraised him once more before nodding, and leaning forward.

"Thank you for coming in on such short notice" Hanse started, before he paused and frowned slightly, annoyed that suddenly he was finding himself speaking so formally to his _son_.

Then again, it was a sort of formal occasion.

"It's fine" Victor smiled easily as he leaned back. "All I had today were more staff meetings with Galen, then going over the results of the last training exercises with the staff of the Cavalry".

"Oh? How did the last exercise go then?" Hanse asked, his interest suddenly piqued ... and Victor frowned at him as he noted the twitching smile trying to work its way onto his Fathers face.

"You knew". It wasn't _quite _an accusation.

"Of course I did" Hanse let the smirk bloom. "Who do you think gave Chapman the tools for the job? He and Banzai were working on this for _months. _Personally I thought it was a ludicrous idea, but once again we have been shown to never doubt the power of a mad scientist with a blank chequebook".

"Well he certainly hasn't lost his touch" Victor offered him a wry smile. "Chapman managed to get in, run our 'Cluster' around in circles while he accomplished his objectives, then disengage and get his main unit back out when we ran back to stop his assault force". Victor shrugged slightly. "Granted we were fighting strictly by Clan tactics and wouldn't have come out to play that way normally, but given the odds against them, I have to admit Marshal Devers was rather … annoyed".

"But you were not?" Victor again shrugged.

"Yes, but to be perfectly honest, the 10th probably needed a good kick in the pants. Some of the troops have been getting a little too cocky after all the ass-kicking's _we've_ delivered over the last year".

Hanse nodded, pleased to see his Son taking the lesson for what it was. Victors command, the 10th Lyran Guards, had spent the last 8 months on New Avalon in a training role, with the Clan Truce now firmly in place. One of the most skilled units in the AFFC who had fought no less than three different Clans, each with their own tactics and fighting styles, they had been rotated off the front line to serve as a Clan-style 'opposing force' to other units. Green units, units rebuilt after being shattered by the Clans early on and units that simply were too full of themselves or set in their tactical thinking; the 10ths job was simply to brutally beat them up, break their confidence with a hard dose of reality and then just as brutally rebuild them. Their Mechs had been modified for training purposes to simulate the Clans superior technology with wickedly advanced holographic systems that could make an _Atlas_ look uncannily like a _Daishi,_ linked into an integrated simulation network that was almost as terrifyingly realistic as a real battle. And they were using the technology well; again and again beating up their opponents until the lessons sunk in about just what it meant to fight an enemy with the technology, skills and hyper-aggressive mindset the Clans had.

Some units had gotten 'it' quickly and learned what _not_ to do in combat with a Clan unit. Others had unfortunately required substantially more humbling before they started to shift tactics, more than a few senior officers had been quietly shuffled off to make way for new blood if they simply proved unable to cope with the dynamics of war in the 3050s. A modern Federated Suns Regimental Combat Team held the _generally_ accepted distinction of being the most well trained, equipped and flexible military force mankind had seen since the Star League Defence Force – even perhaps to the point of getting a little _too _complacent with that reputation. Complacency could be a _very_ dangerous thing … and hundreds of thousands of soldiers had perhaps paid the price for that smugness early on in the Clans invasion. Although compared to the problems old Takashi was apparently having trying to get large chunks of the conservative DCMS fighting smart, _his_ army was rapidly embracing the hard won lessons with blinding speed.

And with _far_ fewer requests for commanders to 'use the garden' to boot.

His RCT commanders were _not_ idiots; they already knew perfectly well that to fight a battle by the enemy's rules and terms was a sure fire way to lose a battle; most of them simply had not seen the Clans 'box' and so didn't know how to think outside of it. After a few beatings at the hands of 'Clan Steiner-Davion' as the 10th had dubbed themselves while on OPPFOR duty, most units had shaped up well and were even now being shipped off to the Lyran State Command with confidence that they knew how to fight this new enemy - and how to win against them.  
Of course, this kind of Opposing Force training had much less utility for units whose specialty already _was_ looking at the box, laughing at it, setting it on fire before walking away to find a nice sphere to sit on.  
Like the Federated Suns Armored Cavalry.

He didn't know if it had been Doctor Banzai or General Chapman who had come up with the _completely_ absurd idea of modifying _Stuka_ class Aerotech fighters to be able to 'bolt on' a man to their ordinance hardpoints, wearing the new Inner Sphere Standard battle armour. He also wasn't sure _where_ they had come up with people crazy enough to actually _volunteer_ to be bolted on. But he certainly couldn't doubt the _effectiveness_ of the completely off the wall tactic. The Armored Cavalry had pulled the 10th out of position from the supply base they were supposed to be protecting, Clan Steiner-Davion moving out and attacking furiously like the Clanners they were simulating like a bull at a red flag, _apparently_ scattering the Cav in all directions in the process. Ten Aerotech fighters, all modified _Stukas_, had then made a nape of the Earth dash and air strike against the supply base the 10th were supposed to be defending. But instead of dropping virtual bombs which would have been entirely ineffective against the distributed and well-fortified caches, or trying to slow down and make direct attacks that would expose them to a gauntlet of AAA fire, they had dropped forty battle armoured troopers into the base as they cracked past at Mach 1, all of them loaded down with as many demolition charges as they could carry. The sheer _insanity_ of the tactic had so stunned the defending conventional infinity into disbelieving inaction that the neutral referees drawn from the Davion Heavy Guards had declared them wiped out within minutes. Sapper teams had swiftly torn open the bunkers and set demolition charges, even as other fire teams had fanned out to TAG a number of anti-aircraft emplacements and bunkers still intact around the perimeter of the base. A (virtual) hail of Arrow-IV missiles from the remainder of the air wing delivered from out of range promptly 'blew' a neat escape hole for the Battle Armour, transport choppers landing swiftly to pick up the attack force and fly away safely, just ahead of the return of the chagrined 10th Lyans 'Mechs.

And just to rub salt in the wound, it seemed the raiders had found and 'liberated' much of the 10ths daily alcohol ration which had also been stored in the camp before trashing the rest. And stolen the Clan Steiner-Davion flag to boot.

The Cav were, of course, now strutting around Avalon City they owned the planet. And credit where credit was due, they had earned the victory and were itching to have a _real _go at the Clans as soon as possible.

"Information is ammunition – so don't hand it over to the enemy" Hanse quoted to his son, gaining a mild rolling of eyes in return.

"When I ascend the throne, I think I'm going to _ban_ that show" Victor replied. "God knows Adam tells me he is getting sick of having people thrust holovid boxes in his face every time he steps foot back into civilized society, asking for autographs".

"Then it might interest you to know that holovid sales and merchandising rights _so far _have made enough money to buy a full company of new Battlemechs for the Strikers. In fact, if the sales trends continue growing like they are, we should clear enough for Morgan to upgrade them into a near Battalion sized raiding force within a year".

"…You're kidding me".

"No, not at all" he assured the other. "For all the critics that panned it, it's been selling like _hotcakes_ across the Commonwealth and Suns. And apparently Tharkard Broadcasting just penned an agreement for distribution rights in the Free Worlds League with Atreus TV, which should bring in, oh, another twenty to thirty million this financial year".

"Things are so much simpler on the Battlefield" Victor shook his head slightly – even as he filed the information away to rib his cousin the next time he saw him.

"I know exactly how you feel" Hanse said – and not without irony, given what he was going to tell him now. But he was perfectly happy to use the opening his son had given him anyway. "After your Uncle Ian died … well, let's just say going from a Battlefield to a Throne is a no easy task".

"Very Subtle Father" Victor raised an eyebrow. "Why do I have the feeling that statement is the prelude to you telling me something I'm not going to like?"

"Because Arden, bless his heart, still can't keep his mouth shut?"

"Well … not exactly. You know Arden, how he gets in that super serious mood that tells you he knows something big is about to happen?"

"Ah" Hanse replied, taking a moment to frame his thoughts seriously. "Victor, you've made your Mother and I incredibly proud of you over the last four years. And not just on the battlefield; you've truly become your own man. But with the Clan and Combine truces in place and the Capellans finally under control, it's time to seriously look at your future plans".

"As in we're going to discuss and decide together what I want, or that you are going to lay out what you and Mother have planned for me?"

"You tell me" Hanse asked, leaning back as he noted there was not a trace of rebuke in his son's voice. He remembered only four years ago when told he was being stationed roughly in the middle of nowhere Victor had had something of a tantrum to both him _and _Morgan. But now there was no judgement in his voice, merely … acceptance. Perhaps curiosity?

His son really _had_ grown up a great deal over the last few years.

Victor sighed and also leaned back in his chair, but didn't break eye contact.

"Well … I think we _both_ knew that at some point I'd have to start taking a much deeper and more active involvement in political life. I _had_ hoped to at least wait another year, to finish out my five years' service with the 10th Lyran. I couldn't help but notice Katherine has been _very_ active on the New Avalon talk show scene since I got here – and doing a rather impressive job at it".

"Translation; 'Isn't whatever you want _me_ to do something _she_ can do?" Hanse dryly reflected – and Victor at least had the good grace to look slightly embarrassed for a moment. But it was a valid enough point he supposed. Ever since the mild heart attack, he had been 'encouraged' to offload as many of his duties as he possibly could to other people until he was fully recovered. And by 'encouraged' he meant his Wife, Morgan, Arden, Alex Mallory, half his Privy Council and most of his Children had taken it upon themselves to organize a soft palace coup against him that had _considerably_ lightened his workload, spreading much of the day to day business across any number of his trusted advisers, to distil his attention and energy to only the most critical and important decisions that he _had _to take. At least until everyone was sure he was fully recovered.  
Katherine had been tasked with keeping up the Royal families local public appearances. His daughter had shown a genuine knack for the kind of soft public relations work that was a political figures bread and butter, her media profile spiking quickly to the point that quiet alarm bells had rung in the back of the head of her parents. Not because they didn't trust their daughter. Far from it; Hanse was increasingly confident that when the time came for Victor to take the reins of leadership that she would be one of his most critical advisers and a brilliant regent when he was off New Avalon. No, the problem was Victors lauded war record that had dramatically increased his media profile during the Clan War and made him a hero, along with the 10th Guards.

Because it was _exactly _that. A war record.

The AFFC loved him and acknowledged him as one of their own - and having the military on side was rather …important… for the ruler of a Successor State. He had even won high praise for his decision to rescue Hohiro Kurita –outside of the Draconis March anyway. And even there, pointed questions about AFFC troops risking their lives to 'save a Drac Prince' were wrapped tightly inside smug sound-bytes on talk shows about how the action showed that _their_ Prince had shown he would honor _his _word. But the Clan War was fast becoming 'yesterday's news' – despite how many times exasperated military press officers on New Avalon and Tharkard kept saying that the war was neither over _nor _truly suspended. Attention was drifting back to many other things in the news and on planets with other concerns from employment to the environment across hundreds of worlds. Domestic issues that had been ignored for too long with the threat of total conquest by invaders from beyond the Periphery on everyone's minds.

Victor, everyone agreed, was a fine soldier. A worthy leader who had fought furiously in defense of his people. As was proper. But as a politician he was … untested. And after the heart attack scare of last year with their First Prince, the first 'what if?' questions had been asked over scenarios where one or both of his Parents died. Would Victor be in any shape to take over? Did Victor have the training, the people, and the confidence of the various Government departments?

The questions were mild, and as of now, not being at all seriously asked. But both Hanse and Melissa had taken notice and taken the warning for what it was. Hanse knew _exactly_ what it was like to be thrust suddenly into a position of unexpected authority. _He_ had never wanted to rule the Federated Suns. Like Victor had been perfectly happy as a MechWarrior and completely unprepared when that awful day when his brother had been killed in action playing MechWarrior instead of Politician as was his want. Somehow, Hanse had managed to struggle on until he found his feet with a lot of luck, but they couldn't risk that happening to Victor. He was responsible for _two _Great powers, not one. He had a strategic situation that made the Game of Thrones of the Succession Wars look almost simple – and that was even without internal political challenges he would face from both realms.

Victor had been born to rule. It was his birthright, but it was also his _duty_, something he had learned and embraced fiercely on the field of battle. He was so much like Ian in some ways; he loved the life of a soldier. The equality that came from being among comrades in arms without any concern about political life. No concerns about the circumstances of one's birth, no concerns about anything but trusting the man next to you to watch your back as he trusted you to watch yours as you were forced to make decisions both so much harder … and yet so much easier than those you would behind _this _desk.

But unlike Ian, Victor had an enormous capacity within him to _learn_ and the will to _change_. And it was past time to awaken that drive in him. And if his Wife was mercilessly pushing him to offload a lot of his tedious responsibilities until he was fully back on his feet, then he might as well start piling some of them onto Victor … as they would _all _be his soon enough anyway.

"Your Sister has been doing an exceptional job – that is true" Hanse continued the conversation after only a heartbeat of a pause, leaving forward again for emphasis to hold Victors gaze. "But it is well past time that _you_ started to get more hands-on experience with the realm you are going to be ruling. My heart attack was an important wake up call Victor. A warning that we cannot simply assume we'll have all the time in the world to play with here. If I had died, you would have had to start running before you could walk. I'd much rather have it the other way around" he noted, picking up the stack of folders neatly tied together with a paper seal wrapped around them and tossing it across the desk to him. Victor reached out and slid them the rest of the way, glancing briefly at the bold red letters printed across the cover sheet briefly as he reached to snap the seal and lift the first folder … then he did a double take at the writing before snapping his eyes up at his Father, pure shock coming across his face for a heartbeat before he got himself under control.

"…Victor Steiner-Davion, _Acting Lord of the Crucis March_?" he read out the text printed there with a remarkably steady voice.

Hanse raised an eyebrow, genuinely impressed at his son's control.

"You were expecting, perhaps, me to make you parking inspector for Avalon City?"

"I'm not sure what I was expecting – but I wasn't prepared for _this_" he replied, pausing to exhale slowly as he marshaled his emotions. "It's … a rather big step up from a Battalion command to being in charge of a hundred worlds".

"True" Hanse nodded, again pleased to see his Son was taking in the gravity of this sudden new direction in his life with the attention it deserved – yet without any kind of panic. "But it's substantially less than the step from a Battalion to ruling _eight _hundred across two realms and six major political regions, each with their own egomaniac in charge. Besides, the Crucis March more or less runs itself these days since the Periphery zone was split off. There are few things that require my personal involvement in any given week that are not strictly ceremonial. But that isn't the point. This is _hard experience_ for you. You _will _need to put together a staff just like James has on Robinson or Kym runs for Morgan down on New Syrtis. You _will _need to bring together a core group of advisers who know all the things you don't know, but who you can work with. You _will _need to start rubbing shoulders with the local nobility and deal with all the pesky interplanetary issues they should really sort out themselves, but prefer to drop in your lap so you can take the heat. And if you can learn to do this for the Crucis March, you can learn to do it for the Commonwealth. We're not throwing you in the deep end … but you _will _need to learn how to swim. This _will _be a challenge … but I can tell you that everyone at the highest levels of the Suns I ran this by – myself, your Mother, Arden, the other March Lords; all of them have total confidence in your ability to do this".

He was pleased that Victor did not respond immediately or impulsively. Instead his Son glanced down in thought for some time, clearly thinking everything over and giving this matter the absolute serious consideration it deserved. But eventually, inevitably, he nodded, straighter and look him in the eye unflinchingly.

"Where do we start?"

Hanse smiled.

"You have a meeting tomorrow at nine with several members of the Privy Council" Hanse keyed up an itinerary on his desktop computer, swinging the screen so Victor could see the schedule listed for him tomorrow already in place. "You won't need to make any _major_ decisions on staff _yet_, but you'll need to get some short lists going for review and to think about defining exactly what your roles and responsibilities are, with the personnel to cover all of them. The public announcement will be at the end of the week, but you'll be on the road by then so you won't need to be here for that".

"On the road?" Victor echoed curiously.

"Top folder" Hanse glanced down at the stack of papers and Victor obediently broke the seal on the packet, pulling out the top folder and flipping it open to skim the summery sheet on the first page. "Your first official function as acting March Lord will be taking a trip to Arendelle".

"Arendelle" Victor glanced to the side, his eyes narrowing slightly for a moment in thought, before refocusing. "That's … about three jumps spinward from here, right?"

"Correct" Hanse agreed. "Closer to the border of the Periphery March. Quite a nice place really, been there once years ago with your Mother for a little drop in with the rulers".

"Family?" Victor wondered aloud – and not unreasonably. The Davion family had for centuries become 'involved' with various local Governments, spawning countless branches to the family tree far beyond the ability of anyone but a dedicated genealogist to figure out. Some worlds like Argyle had a great many distant relatives and estates clustered on them, but most worlds could point to some kind of link _somewhere_ with a little effort.

"Friends" Hanse clarified with a slight smile. "The Duchess at the time was a close friend of Melissa, they met when she was single on New Avalon in '28 and had invited us to visit. We finally got around to it in 34".

"Hang on" Victor protested, as he backed up the conversation with a frown. "I thought Mothers presence was a secret from pretty much everyone back in '28. How _exactly_ did they meet when she was on New Avalon?"

"Oh it _was_ a secret" Hanse laughed suddenly as he thought back fondly to those crazy days. "_How_ exactly Idun managed to just waltz past that many guards and security systems? That is something Quintus never entirely figured out. Drove the poor man to distraction, good _lord _that woman had enough energy for ten people and if you took your eyes off her for a split second, poof, she was gone. Your Mother, of course, fell in love with her and they were thick as thieves while she was here with me – no matter if she became something of a technical prisoner as much as a guest in order to keep the secret. Not that they saw it that way of course. They kept in touch even after Melissa moved back to Tharkard". Hanse paused then, the smile on his face fading as the past gave way to relatively recent events, a sigh passing his lips as he came to the point. "As for why _you _are going there; well that's simple. They are both dead - there is no current Duke or Duchess in charge of the place. Hasn't been for three years".

Victor tilted his head in curiosity. It was _highly_ unusual for such a position to remain vacant for that long – certainly not without it being big enough news that even on the Clan front he probably would have heard about it.

"Succession crisis? Foul play?" He hazarded a guess - but Hanse shook his head.

"Dropship accident" Hanse grimaced as he recalled the events. "It didn't get too much attention – certainly not outside of the Crucis March itself – and we worked to keep it low key. Idun and her husband were on their way to New Avalon – they said they had something important -not exactly urgent, but _important- _to discuss directly with me. Their Dropship had an engine failure shortly after take-off. A pretty terrific storm was going on at the time and they lost control at exactly the wrong time and tipped over; went right in to the ocean without any survivors".

"That sounds … convenient' Victor narrowed his eyes slightly. "Sabotage?"  
Granted, 3050 had been a _very _busy year, but that kind of scandalizing death of the rulers of a world was the stuff news channels just loved putting up. Or if not them, conspiracy theorists. He was surprised he had not heard about it until now. There may be 800 worlds across the Commonwealth –minus however many the damn Clans had taken- but it wasn't every day a ruler died in a dropship crash.

"Given that they said they had something important to talk to me about then mysteriously died, I had MIIO investigate. Their reports and analysis are in there" Hanse nodded again at the folder Victor was holding, "but the long and short of it is they concluded it was an accident. Just one damn thousand c-bill bracket that broke in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was no supporting evidence that it had been caused by sabotage".

"Doesn't mean it _wasn't _sabotage – it might just mean they were really good" Victor pointed out, and Hanse smirked, both amused and pleased with his son's skepticism - but didn't say anything, letting Victor continue. "So … if they still don't have someone in charge three years later … I'm guessing there were no suitable heirs at the time?"

"They _were_ survived by two daughters. Elsa, the elder, and Anna the younger. Neither were old enough to step in. But it wasn't an immediate concern either. The planet was highly stable and I decided there was no need to rush it through – in fact I had good reason to make sure she was ready for the job. So I green lit a local regency until Elsa would be old enough to take the throne, getting her slowly more involved in the decision making and seeing how she handled it. The reports I got back were favorable, so I had Arden swing by earlier this year and interview her. He tells me that she's somewhat … reserved, rather formal. _Extremely_ bright mind you. Probably lacking a bit of confidence, but he's sure she'll be fine. She has a solid support structure around her, very loyal people, her parents were much loved. Her twenty first birthday is just over a month from now and she'll be invested as a duchess a week later".

"Ohhhh? An investment?" Victors eyes lit up. "I've heard … _stories_ … about those".

Hanse rolled his eyes – but he didn't try to suppress the smirk on his face either. Any new Duke or Duchess invested into such a position were required to legally swear allegiance and loyalty to their March Lord and the First Prince of the Federated Suns. For worlds in the Crucis March as this involved _both_ titles belonging to the same person, it was often consolidated into a highly ceremonial trip to New Avalon instead of the rather busy First Prince coming out to see _them_. There the party of the Nobel and their retainers, often hundreds strong, would undertake a solemn week long stay at Mount Davion where they would formally be briefed on their duties and expectations, before the formal swearing in.

At least officially.

_Unofficially_ it mostly involved getting absolutely _plastered_ on the First Princes private alcohol stores for five days straight, among other entertainments. Then came a full day to recover from the hangovers and then the formal ceremony on the seventh day, with all the pomp that could be mustered in front of the cameras. Followed in turn by the First Prince kicking them the hell out before his wine cellars ran dry, while pretending he didn't see the cases of bottles loaded into various hoverlimo boots as they headed for the space port.

"Not this time Son" Hanse shook his head. "There is a reason I'm sending you to them and not vice versa – skim appendix C's summery".

Victor did so, his face neutral and controlled now as he read through the single page summary report, before finally looking up and raising an eyebrow.

"This is confirmed?"

"It is" Hanse nodded solemnly. "Jamie Wolfs people confirmed the NAIS analysis; the specific rare-earth elements key to the production of Clan technology are present on Arendelle in levels not seen outside the Clan Homeworlds. Even ignoring the fact that the planet has significant Germanium deposits that could fuel Galax and Kathil for the next five centuries at current production levels, this … I don't need to tell _you_ how big a thing matching the Clans technology would be, do I?"

Victor simply shook his head. While the Star League technology the Inner Sphere was mass producing now was a quantum leap over the technology used during the Succession Wars, it was still a significant step down from the technology the Clans had. Although the fundamental principles of what made the Clans technology so much better than comparable Inner Sphere technology were now broadly understood, duplicating it was proving to be a nightmare. The biggest stumbling block being the lack of certain rare-Earth elements that simply did not exist in the Inner Sphere on the scale needed to do more than hand tool a few examples as proofs of concepts. Arendelle could change all that at a stroke – and in so doing, shift the entire balance of power across the Inner Sphere in highly unpredictable ways.  
The one thing everyone _could _agree on however, was that everyone in the Inner Sphere would want a piece of the production and demand would consume any supply as soon as it was harvested. It meant _huge _potential profits were in the wind and according to MIIOs commercial division, every two bit mining and refining company from across the Inner Sphere was already jockeying for a piece of the action. And he explained as much to Victor.

"Bear in mind that we've given a lot of these companies a _lot_ of leeway since we established the Periphery March" Hanse finished. "Major tax incentives, investment co-payments, joint partnerships; the works. We overlook a _lot_ of what they get up to out there, because they are bringing major net positives to the region. But occasionally we need to remind them, quietly, who holds the whip".

"And whats why I'm going" Victor determined. "My presence – my first official act in fact as March Lord, will be to show up and be seen showing up. Make sure everyone understands that we're keeping close tabs on them and this planet".

"That _and _the fact that your mother was extremely fond of these girls Mother – and wants them to know that they can turn to us" Hanse qualified. "But yes, at the heart of this, it's just about being seen and letting everyone draw their own opinions. The Mega-corps will understand they are being told that we're watching them. The locals will take it as a sign of support and the greatest vote of confidence we can bestow in the new Duchess. The New Avalon media will _eat_ _up_ the footage of you looking dashing and official and send it out to every corner of the Commonwealth, without having them on your heals every time you turn around or you having to lift a finger".

"Kill several birds with one stone" Victor thoughtfully nodded his head. "Efficient".

"You have to be in this job" Hanse snorted gently. "On a related topic, as March Lord you have the right to have an honor guard accompany you to any planet in the March – and you should get into the habit of it anyway. I've talked it over with Marshal Devers and General Kaulkas. They've agreed to put together a mixed battalion sized unit based on the Revenants – at least for this trip. Morgan and Nondi are working to put together a new formation containing elements of the Davion Guards and Royal Guards to take over the job on a permanent basis, but that can wait for now. And at any rate" he paused for a moment, shooting a sympathetic look at his Son, "the 10th are going to rotate back to Lyran State Command next year with the next wave of reshuffles from the Capellan March. I think at the least you've earned a final road trip with some of them. Apparently just about everyone in the RCT put their hands up for this mission".

His Son smiled gently and looked away, clearly touched by the show of support by his unit.

"I'm keeping Galen" Victor decided after a moment. "He'll _hate_ it, but he's too good an aide – too good a friend to let go".

Hanse snorted gently at that deceleration.

"I'd insist on him staying with you even if you _didn't_ want him – all of us need someone not afraid to pull us up when we do something stupid – God knows how many times Arden pulled me up short over the years. Oh, that reminds me; Kai will be joining you as well".

"Kai?" Victor asked with genuine surprise and no small amount of pleasure at the unexpected announcement before his gaze turned somewhat more wary. "Why is he tagging along?"

"Officially?" Hanse asked, and Victor nodded as Hanse held out his hand and started to tick off items. "One, his mother wants to keep him away from Sian until things have _really_ cooled down, probably to help keep his mind off the death of Justin as much as anything else. Two, much like me, she wants him to start getting practical experience in political life – and Sian is too much of a vipers nest to train in without learning the wrong lessons. Three, it plays up your friendship with him across the Suns – especially the Capellan March planets unsure to be annoyed at me for giving back planets to the Confederation, despite our new treaty, or rejoicing for having Romano and her brood put down".

"Right. That all makes perfect sense" Victor nodded, before adding "and unofficially?"

"Justin must have mentioned Arendelle and the recent discoveries before he died" Hanse laughed softly. "It's clear that Candace wants 'equal in' on the resources to kick start her own Clan-tech weapons program. And in order to do that, she needs to make nice with Arendelle, especially given that for the last twenty years the word most often associated with the Confederation was 'insanity'. She probably hopes Kai will charm the pants off everyone, laying the ground work for future negotiations. She always likes to play the long game".

"Do we have any problem with that?" Victor asked carefully.

"No, not really" Hanse shook his head, quick to dispel any possible wedge forming between Victor and one of his closest friends. "Kai's so relentlessly humble that he's almost a walking, talking advertisement for the 'new look' Confederation, even without his ridiculously impressive war record".

"I see" Victor replied with a slow nod as he took it in. "This is going to take a while to get used to – seeing everything on ten different levels at the same time".

"Truth" Hanse nodded as he stood, Victor doing so as well. "But you'll learn Victor. That is your greatest strength". Hanse came around the desk to his Son and, clearly surprising him, grabbed him in a fierce hug that Victor quickly returned just as firmly, Hanse enjoying the moment before letting him go and starting to walk him towards the door. "You're going to do fine Son. Don't stress about this trip. Have fun, catch up with Kai and have a final road trip with your Revenants – they could probably use some light duty". He paused to open the door, nodding to the bodyguards who snapped to attention. "This will probably be the easiest, most boring and most uneventful trip you'll take off New Avalon as March Lord ever. So make the most of it".

Sending Victor on his way and closing the door behind him, Hanse Davion smiled slightly to himself as he headed back to his desk, completely ignorant of just how wrong his last statement would end up being.


	3. Chapter 2

_"I have been blessed to meet a great many remarkable people in my life. Leaders of Great States and soldiers of spectacular skill to be sure. Nobles by the thousands and many more people of note by the tens of thousands. And yet, despite the differences between all of them, I've found an amusing commonality in that I am so often asked about the Duchess of Arendelle._

_'What is she like? What kind of a person is she, truly, the legendary Snow Queen of the Federated Commonwealth?'_

_To those questions, I always give the same answer I give now. If you wish to understand the Duchess of Arendelle, you must first understand -or at least _try_ to understand- the delightfully chaotic blaze of infinite energy that is Anna. _

_Do not be misled by the fact that Elsa is the older Sister and Duchess and do not be deceived by the fact that Elsa has the power to manipulate the raw forces of the universe, while Anna is as 'normal' as any of the rest of us. Elsa has a strength of will few I have ever met could match, but never miscalculate which of the two sisters _will_ ultimately get her way in the end should they ever disagree about something"._

- **Archon-Prince Victor Steiner-Davion; 'Cause and Effect'. Avalon Press, 3068**

**FSS _Corona Sunburst_  
Approach Vector BA-18, Arendelle  
Crucis March  
Federated Commonwealth  
May 09 – 3053  
**  
Anna disliked dropships.

This was not, as one might think, related to the tragedy of what had happened to her parents. Or at least not wholly so. While she had grieved – and _still _quietly grieved – the loss of her Mother and Father in a distant thunderclap and rumble one horrible night three years ago, the feelings of apprehension and sadness that spiked whenever she saw one of the massive craft centred on a much earlier event in her life.

It was the night, when a seven year old Anna had been told that her sister was leaving their home to go and live far far away.

She had not believed her parents when they had tried to quietly explain to her that Elsa needed to live apart from them - at least for a while. She had not believed them when they told her that she had already left and it was too late to say goodbye. And she had certainly not believed them when they told her it might be years before she saw her again.

And to prove them wrong, she had run.

In a blur of motion she had torn away from the dinner table, ignoring the pleas for her to come back as she had sprinted in her somewhat ungainly way up the main staircase two at a time. She had then launched herself off onto the second floor and down the passage to where she knew Elsas bedroom was. So _many_ times she had run down this passage to the door set halfway down it. So many times she had halted in front of the door there over the last two years and silently stared, pleading for her to come out. More than once she had simply gone to sleep in front of the door at night, only to find herself back in her bed in the morning – apparently moved there by her parents.

But she knew she was _there_, even if she was still never to be seen.

Except … now she wasn't.

The doors with the pretty snowflakes painted on them that had always been closed to her were wide open and the room beyond was dark. Panting slightly from her sprint, she had slowly walked through them, into Elsas bedroom for the very first time … and found the room was empty. A few boxes, a few crates sealed up against a wall, but nothing else. No bed, no draws, no toys, no pictures…

No sister.

A sudden panic had overtaken her at that point and she had exploded out of room calling for her sister. _Yelling_ for her sister as she zigged and zagged across the family palace twice as fast as she had run to the room, ignoring the looks from the household staff as she blew past them, effortlessly dodging around their attempts to catch her and plead with her to just stop and wait. She knew that she had done something years ago. She didn't know _what_, but she knew she had done _something. _She had heard all the times her parents whispered when she was lurking behind doors, their comments about how they had to be kept apart, that she was dangerous to Elsa and even that _she _scared _Elsa_ somehow. She truly did not know what she had done, every time she tried to ask they kept telling her it was not her fault at all, that there was nothing wrong but that Elsa was just growing up into a big girl and so was so much busier.

It had just made her more determined to make the most of what time they had, trying to get close to her at dinner or what other family moments they had together, after Elsa had suddenly moved out of their shared room. Only to find that Elsa kept edging away from the closer she pushed. She saw when Elsa rarely looked at her across the table, how she would stare at her face for just a second and then flinch away as if she saw something there that scared her. Until one day when Anna had tried to surprise Elsa her by sneaking up behind her to give her a warm hug at the dinner table to try and make everything better …

Elsa had almost screamedas she jumped in shock, throwing her off and running from the room, crying, desperately clutching her arms and hands to herself as if panicked by the thought that _she_ had touched _her_.

That had hurt.

A lot.

_She _had cried for the entire night, and no amount of hugging from her mother had calmed her down.

After _that_ disaster, Anna had almost never seen Elsa. After that, they ate at different times, often in different rooms. _Her_ days were even _more_ filled with visits to other families and other 'friends' while Elsa stayed inside with her tutors doing school work or going on week long trips with one of her parents.

She _tried_ to be a good girl like her Papa asked her to be. She _tried_ accept that they were getting older and soon _she _would be busy with school and other things as well … but more and more she found herself staring at the locked door, shyly trying to ask if Elsa wanted to play, only to hear a muffled 'Go away Anna' from the other side that made her feel sad.

Not sad enough to ever stop trying though. _Never_ sad enough for that.

Because when words failed, she slipped notes under the door in her slowly improving hand writing that tried to apologise for whatever she had done.

When notes got no response, she tried to slip tiny pieces of chocolate under the door with the notes, with the promise of more if she opened up.

When her Father told her to stop bothering her sister, she ignored him and left a toy just outside the door with a note carefully hidden inside it in the hope Elsa would find it.

When she got no response to that, she tried to lie in wait and ambush Elsa, only for various servants and her parents to show up mysteriously and make _sure_ she was kept too busy or kept far away when Elsa was outside.

When she had been asked what she wanted her for birthday early next year, she had asked at once for Elsa to come out and play with her and had been heartbroken when her parents had come up with excuses why it couldn't happen.

She had _never_ stopped trying, had never believed that she couldn't make things, somehow, go back to the way they were before. And so on that night two years after whatever she had done that had so scared Elsa, she had torn around the Castle in a complete refusal to admit that her Sister was gone until panting and out of breath, she had come into the library that overlooked the castle grounds, staggering over to the window ready to scream out Elsas name to the entire ground …

And instead felt a cold chill freeze her in place as she had seen a brilliant point of light rising into the twilight sky with a muffled roar of thunder through the thick window.

She wasn't as smart as Elsa, but she _loved _the night sky – they both had. Even more since Elsa had slowly vanished from her life, she had looked to the sky, wondering if Elsa in her room was looking at it right then and liking to think that she was, so they were _still_ doing it together. And she knew that those big ships _never _flew at night from the Royal spaceport. Unless they were on _very_ important business.

And _somehow _she had just … known.

Elsa was on that ship.

Elsa was leaving.

Her sister was … _leaving._

_She_ had pushed her away. She still didn't know what she had done but-

"Yes Anna … that is your sister leaving" a voice –her Pappas voice- had said gently from behind her as her mind screamed out for her Sister to not do this, her Father quietly walking up to her to put his hands gently on her shoulders. She had wanted to throw them off angrily and scream at him … but all the energy that had sent her running through the vast palace had left her all at once as soon as she had seen the sphere of light accelerating up into the sky.

Not even enough energy remained in her to reach up and wipe away the tears flowing silently down her cheeks.

"She's not going far, just around the planet a bit" her Papa kept speaking as if from some great distance … but she didn't really hear him as her eyes remained locked on the brightly ascending star moving into the night sky that slowly faded to joint all the other stars there. Eventually, at some point, her Father realized she just wasn't listening to him and had left her alone to watch her Sisters star rising into the sky until it had just become one dot among thousands of others, Anna refusing to even blink as she kept her eyes on the glow.

Until eventually she _had _to blink. And as soon as she did … she was gone.

Slowly, mechanically, she had then walked back to her room, complexly ignoring her parents as she walked past them, shrugging off her mother's attempt to try and hold her and simply not seeing the genuinely sympathetic looks from the staff as she walked into her room and shut the door behind her, feeling that her heart had been torn in two. All she could think was that she wanted to sleep and so she walked to her bed and collapsed into its soft arms, just wanting the oblivion of sleep to take her, unable to deal with reality anymore.

And frowned as she had felt her head land on her pillow, but felt instead something soft and crinkly like … paper?

Pushing back up in annoyance she had turned to look … and her annoyance had vanished in an instant. Sitting on her pillow was a piece of folded over paper … with her name on it. And she recognized the _beautiful_ flowing handwriting that spelled out her name as her sisters.

With hands that had suddenly started shaking, she reached out and grasped the paper, hesitating then as she found herself both desperately wanting to read it and desperately _not_ wanting to read it until she gathered her courage and unfolded it- 

"Annnnnaaaaa!"

Anna jumped at the voice. So startled was she as she was torn from the past to the present that she _literally _jumped. Unfortunately, the _Neptune_ class Dropship she was aboard was currently not under power as it slowly reoriented for its final deceleration burn – meaning that when she jumped, she kicked right off the railing next to the large window she had been looking out of as she had watched orbital ballet of other distant ships approaching the planet. An instinctive attempt to reach out and grab the aforementioned railing in chagrin succeed only in having Sir Isaac Newton mock her as the rest of her body twisted away in reaction, sending her slowly spinning into the Zero-G environment.

An explosion of snickering from the bulkhead door into the compartment strongly hinted at the source of the voice, an identity confirmed as she rotated lazily through the air to bring the figure into view. 

"Not. Funny. Punz" she yelled as she tried to stretch for the ceiling, failing as this somehow slowed her drift to keep her hovering away from anything she might be able to use. Something that should have been damn near impossible given the cramped quarters, and yet …

The Lady Rapunzel Beaulieu of Corona, beloved Countess of Pomerelia, Heir to Duke Anton Beaulieu and all around nice girl just giggled harder as she watched her cousin flail about in Zero-G. 

"Yes it is" the other corrected her, laughing. Anna simply growled in the back of her throat, thanking small favours that Punz didn't have a camera with her right now to capture her in this horribly undignified position – mentally congratulating herself at the same time for keeping to a very casual jeans and a T-shirt rather than the dresses she usually wore, which would have left her rather horribly exposed as she flailed about. Finally however, her foot connected with part of the ceiling and she gave a firm kick. It was of course, _entirely_ coincidental that this launched her suddenly across the room at her Cousin, who had just enough time to say something very un-lady like before Anna slammed into her and sent the two of them pin wheeling back through the doorway to crash to the deck of the passageway outside.

The two of them lay there for a moment on the deck.

"Okay – I _might_ have deserved that" Rapunzel coughed after a moment to get the wind back in her lungs.

Now _Anna_ snickered slightly as she –carefully- got to her feet, being sure this time to set her Velcro covered shoes onto the strips that ran down the length of the passage before she offered a hand. 

"You _so_ did" Anna agreed as her cousin got to her feet, smoothing down the front of her blouse as she did so. "You didn't used to be this mean before you went brunet" 

"Jealous much?" the other replied with a snark, tiling her new hair cut imperiously and Anna laughed, all the sadness of the past pushed away in the face of the impossibly infectious cheerfulness of her cousin. 

"Well I admit you were right about long hair being a nightmare to control in Zero-G" Anna admitted, with a sigh, reaching up to poke at the bun she had made out of her hair with a critical frown. It looked horrible to her – she had never been good putting her hair up - but she wouldn't have to put up with it for much longer. In an hour or so they would be on the ground and under perfectly normal gravity again. "Still, I think you looked better with the long blond thing going". 

"I'm so _over_ the long blond thing" the other snorted as the two of them started walking down the tight passageway from the observation room towards their acceleration couches in their cabin, other passengers drifting by them as they too moved to get strapped in for their descent to the surface after one final drink in the bar or one final visit to the bathroom. "I know it's heresy for someone with _my _name to think that way, but, I seriously needed a change". 

"Because of the six year old who tried to climb up your hair at that school last month?" Anna replied in a deadpan tone. 

"Because of the six year old who tried to climb up it at the school" the other agreed with a sigh at the memory that she would _never_ live down – not after some fool with a camera had uploaded it to Corona Information Web and it had 'gone viral' – and then some idiot had actually taken a copy with him to New Avalon where it had started to slowly spread across the entire damn Federated Commonwealth. "But that's what I get for being named after a fairy tale; it was bound to happen _somed_ay". 

"Well it's not like I don't _like_ the new look" Anna assured her as they drifted into their cabin and across to their seats. "Spunky-Punzy is awesome, but I liked Princess Punzy". 

"A little change now and then is a good thing" Rapunzel shrugged as she set herself down and started to strap her restraints in the luxuriously soft chair while Anna drifted past her to the window seat that she had won after sixteen consecutively tied rock-paper-scissors battles. "Plus looking after it was getting to be a nightmare. Almost as much as yours". 

"Hey _my_ hair is great" Anna defended herself swiftly. "Well at least outside of Zero-G". 

"Have you _seen _yourself in a mirror after waking up?" the other asked archly. 

"…low blow Punz. Low blow" she muttered as she felt the dropship rumbled under them, the stars outside turning as it shifted attitude. 

Her cousin smiled, but said nothing, instead glancing past her to stare out the window. Anna followed her gaze - and her heart hit her throat.

Slowly, bit by bit, Arendelle was coming into view.

She couldn't help but loose herself in the moment, drinking in every feature as if she was seeing her home for the first time. First the edge of the Northern polar ice cap, a brilliant white disk that glowed in the distant light of the systems primary surrounded by a chain of large and small islands. Then as the rotation slowly brought more of the planet into focus New Noreg slowly came into full view. One of the three main continents on the planet named after Norway on Terra from whom the original settlers had come … and her home.

She gazed down on it in longing wonder as she tried to drink it all in at once – even though it was far too large to see _all_ at once as it mostly curved out of sight around the planet into the darkness approaching beyond the terminator that separated night from day. She knew it was roughly diamond shaped and as big in surface area as Africa on Terra, starting with the icy mountains of the Northern regions slowly giving way as the continent broadened to increasingly temperate alpine regions. From there, vast plains and forests stretched out of sight down to the South and across the equator into a string of islands and smaller land masses that dotted the globe most of the way to the South Pole. Two other continents existed on the planet, a large arid and sparsely populated land named Rostokov to the South and a second continent mirroring the position of Noreg on the other side of the planet named Vestlandet.

But she had eyes only for Noreg right now as she scanned up and down the Western coast … and finally felt her gaze soften slightly as she picked out the distinctive curve where Arendelle City sat.

Where her _home_ sat.

It took a good ten minutes for the Dropship to complete its gentle reorientation, taking the planet back out of the windows as the spherical ship brought its engines to bear directly. Warning announcements and then alarm tones sounded before finally the engines came back online, the fusion drives increasing thrust until they were decelerating them into the planet at a full 1G burn that brought back simulated gravity to the spherical ship. The sudden _feel _of the thrust as she was pushed gently into her chair thrilled her, somehow making this feel _real_ – as if they were not simply drifting by her planet in a dream; but they were _really _here.

After almost three years she was heading back home

She was heading back home to … _her_.

It was getting harder to control her emotions now – partially because she honestly did not know _what _she was supposed to feel at the sudden realisation that she was only hours or days away from seeing someone she had not seen for over a decade. She still missed Elsa so much – that had not changed in over ten years. A part of her had been damaged when they had been split up, a scar that marked her heart almost like the odd –Punz called it 'exotic' - white streak in her hair that had made her stand out since she was a young girl. But after so many years apart, so many failed attempts to reconnect with her, she was at something of a loss for any idea of what was going to happen now. She was not a child anymore, she was an _adult_. And so was Elsa; a young woman who was about to become the Duchess of their world, something she had been preparing for her entire life.

She _knew_ that it was wrong to keep seeing Elsa in her mind as her big sister who had loved to play with her all those years ago. She didn't even know what she _looked_ like anymore; she had stopped trying to look at newer pictures or vids after Elsa had moved out of the palace, finding it just hurt far too much to see her but not _see _her. Even her invitation, delivered personally by the local ComStar Precentor to the Corona family palace along with those for her Aunt, Uncle and Cousin, had lacked any kind of personalized greeting or message from her Sister. And all of her family on Corona had tried to tell her to not hope for _too _much _too _quickly.

Small steps, one after the after, is what her Uncle had kindly told her.

But …it simply wasn't in Annas nature to walk. And in the deepest parts of her soul where she desperately did not want to look … a question that she dared not ask herself kept trying to poke its way ever more insistently into her conciseness.

_What if Elsa didn't love her anymore? Didn't care about her, didn't really want _anything_ to do with her?_

She had always ignored that question, burying it under her memories of her sister and _her _unquestioned love for Elsa that still burned strong. But it was almost as if the closer she got to Elsa now, the stronger the fear became, causing her to tense up, to increasingly shift in her seat against her restraints, her heart starting to beat faster- 

"Hey" Rapunzel softly called out to her suddenly, causing her to jump yet again –although strapped firmly in and under acceleration she at least didn't go flying off this time. Gently, her cousin reached out and placed her hand on top of her own, and Anna realized that she had been gripping her armrest in something like a death grip. The warm touch caused her muscles to unclench at once, blasting the surge of emotion like a strong breeze shredding a cloud of smoke as she turned away from the viewport to face the other. "It's okay Red, I'm right here".

Anna offered her a slightly wan smile at the annoying pet name her cousin had decided on for her, but interlaced her fingers with the proffered hand gladly as she shoot her a look of thanks. Because that was her cousin. _Always_ there when she needed her to pull her up or calm her down, tell a joke or slap her on the back of the head. She didn't know if Rapunzel truly understood just how much she owed her … and it occurred to her belatedly at that point as their ship headed in to return her back home, that she had never actually _told _her that fact.

And now that she thought about it, she realized there was never going to be a better time than now. 

"Thanks Punz" she said simply.

The other shot her a slightly amused look. 

"Chill red. If the pilot hits any turbulence on the way down, I'll have Dad assign his ass to orbital garbage clean-up".

Anna smiled and gripped her hand tightly for a second before letting go. 

"No, I meant _thank you_" she replied, taking a deep slow breath before exhaling. "For everything. For everything over the last few years. I mean, I was a complete _mess_ when I showed up on Corona. If you hadn't been so damn _patient _with me, so understanding … so insistent on trying to drag me out of my, uh, funk I guess … "  
Anna looked away, her gaze drifting to the far bulkhead and flight data on the massive holovid screen, but not really focused on it as she bit her lip, exhaling as she tried to put her thoughts into words.  
"I honestly don't know what would have happened to me without you" she finally admitted.

_And wasn't _that _the understatement of the year, _Anna reflected, her gaze not leaving the bulkhead. Losing her parents in the dropship crash, then burying them, _alone, _had been hard. _Incredibly _hard. All she had _seen_ of Elsa in that week had been another door when she had suddenly moved back into the palace - while Anna had been out, _of_ _course_. All she had _heard_ from her Sister in response to her quiet plea that they only had each other now, had been soft sobs she could barely hear from behind the oddly cold door that had caused her to shy away, leaving Elsa to her grief in the hope that when she came out, she would be able to hug her and tell her that she was here for her. Always.  
And then the next day had come the news that she was going to be heading to Corona to live there for a few years -_sent _to Corona by Elsa - with her Aunt and Uncle who had been present for the funeral, without so much as a personal goodbye from her Sister.

Effective immediately.

To say that she had fallen into something approaching a deep depression would have probably been underselling it. She _should _have just gone back to the palace and kicked down the door to her Sisters old room that Elsa had moved back into. She had _dreamed _of doing that many times after Elsa had moved out, quietly cursing her constant turning away from the door whenever Elsa told her to leave. She _should_ have kicked down the door and demanded her sister _look _at her, _talk _to her; told her that she _loved _her and _needed _her to get through this.

Told her that all she –they- had now … was each other.

Instead, with her parents dead, her sister crying in her own grief behind a closed door … she had just blankly joined her only other living relatives on autopilot and left Arendelle behind without so much as a word of protest, watching the planet slowly recede into the distance, somehow feeling that life had finally lost any and all meaning to her.

It wasn't anger, it wasn't sadness … it was more a sudden and complete sense of pure _indifference _to everything that had threatened to swallow her up whole.

It had been the woman sitting next to her that had dragged her back from the brink.

Good lord she truly loved her Cousin. No matter how much she had been intent on never loving anything again, Rapunzel had simply smirked, shrugged and completely refused to take 'no' for an answer. After avoiding her upon landing at Corona and then sitting quietly in her room for a few days, Punz had finally had enough and just come in anyway. _She _didn't let anything as prosaic as a closed and locked door so much as even slow her down; the sight of her cousin abseiling down from the floor above her and crashing _through_ her bedroom window –that had thankfully just flown open from the impact rather than shattering- had both stunned her into complete shock … and then made her wonder at once why _she _had never tried that with Elsa when she was younger.

And from that day on, and with every day she had dragged her outside her room to have fun, Anna had felt the black stain that was her state of mind retreat that little bit further. And that was how Punz had slowly become far more than a cousin; for the first time since Elsa, she had _truly _had a best friend in her life. Possibly because for the first time, she had a friend who had never tried to be Elsa.

Over the years since Elsa had left, her parents had tried to push her again and again into accepting new friends. And every time she had seen it in their eyes, heard in it in their voice that they were looking for someone to _replace_ Elsa, to be a new sister to her. A new Sister like Elsa for her. And -entirely unfairly, she knew- she had _hated_ those people because of that. Furiously resisted ever getting close to them.

But Rapunzel was … different.

Perhaps it was because she _was_ family_. _A more distant part of it than her sister or her parents, but undeniably linked to her in a way that no other friend she had been forced to stay with could ever be. Despite being the same age as Elsa, despite being such a similar position as her Sister as the Heir to her own world, despite having more than a few bits of DNA probably identical to Elsas own genetic code, she had neither tried nor wanted to anyone but her own incredibly cheerful, exuberant and overly dramatic self. And day by day in those first few hard weeks, her presence had dragged her back out of the shell she had retreated into. Rapunzel couldn't fill the Elsa shaped hole in her heart - _nothing_ wouldever do that. But she _had_ helped her once again to come to terms with it, had helped her truly grieve her dead parents and accept their loss; she had taught her to _live _once more.

And for that, Anna owed her more than she would _ever_ be able to repay. 

"Anna" Rapunzel softly brought her attention back, an expression that was simultaneously amused and yet gentle. "You don't have to thank me for anything. Period". 

"No, I really do" Anna tried to insist, but Rapunzel simply rolled her eyes at her. 

"Anna…" she stated, paused, then looked away for a second to think, before looking back. "How much do you know about _me _– I mean who I was before we met?"

Anna glanced at her in curiosity as she considered the question. 

"Uh, well, just what you've told me" she replied, before hesitating in embarrassment as it hit her that despite all the secrets they had share over the years, she really _didn't _know much about her cousin's life before she had arrived. At least nothing that wouldn't presumably be the same as after she had turned up. She knew Rapunzel had incredible talent as a painter that already had rumblings of her work going to New Avalon at some point and that she loved running around outdoors or riding around on a horse. She had a beautiful voice but was shy about singing. She loved dresses but _hated _shoes … and she seemed to have, much like her, _absolutely_ no fear about doing anything on impulse no matter how dangerous it seemed.

Her aunt had often bemoaned the fact that this was clearly a genetic trait after Punz had pried her out of her shell and the two had promptly started driving the palace staff nuts by pushing _everything_ to the limit.

"I … I know you don't have any sisters or brothers. Oh – I know you were mostly looked after by a stay in nanny, uh, Gothic wasn't it?" 

"Gothel" Punz corrected her, making a face as if she had just bitten into something tart. "My Parents were busy running the planet, I had no brothers or sisters – I honestly thought for the longest time that they didn't care about me". 

"But that's not true – they _adore _you!" Anna spluttered in hot denial, pausing with a sudden scarlet flush on her face as her Cousin held up her hand. 

"Yes I know that – at least I know _now_" she sighed. "But for a long time, I thought they didn't care about me. At _all_. An impression cheerfully helped along by Gothel. Even now I'm not really sure what her angle was; my parents think she was trying to manoeuvre herself into being the power behind the throne by grooming me to be _her_ 'perfect child'. I don't know about that … but she _did_ do her very best to isolate me from everyone but herself. Kept insisting that I should look at her like a second mother, that she was the only friend I ever needed. Even kept trying to have me call her 'Mother Gothel'" she added with an almost contemptuous snort. "To be blunt, well, she was a passive-aggressive _bitch_ who tried to keep me all to herself. I had no friends, no real contact with anyone except some of the palace staff and when I saw my parents, all I could _see_ were the Duke and Duchess - not my Mother and Father". 

"That … sounds awful" Anna managed to get out, taken utterly aback and horrified even at the story she had never been told by anyone, suddenly feeling she had to apologise for her ignorance – and for making her cousin tell her. "I … I never knew …." 

"Don't you _dare_ apologize" her cousin warned her sharply. "_I_ never told you – it's _not_ your fault you didn't know" she scolded her, before adding in a softer tone "but it _is _your fault that I've gotten past that part of my life" as she turned away and chewed on her lip for a second, before sighing and leaning back into the plush comfort of her acceleration couch. "It's … not something I like to talk about … I was so lonely for so long, never had much interaction with other people outside the Castle. My parents were told by Gothel that I was a very shy lonely child who didn't want to get off the estate much, Gothel told _me_ that I had far too many things to do to go off sightseeing. I only ever really got out for a few scripted public events where I had to show up, wave, and go back home. I just thought this was the way things were meant to be … until my 18th Birthday". 

"What happened on your 18th Birthday?" Anna asked, somewhat intently. 

"…Long story" Rapunzel deflected after a moment of consideration, to Annas annoyance. She knew _something _big had happened, had heard rumours once or twice - but she was always getting fobbed off whenever she asked about it. "But to fast forward to the end, I finally realized that my parents really _did _love me and that Gothel had been, shall we say, _misleading _me for a rather long time. It all sort of came out in a very … loud … conversation between myself, my Parents, Gothel and half the Palace staff – and ended with her getting fired and exiled from the planet". 

"Seriously Punz, what the _hell _happened that day?" she pleaded after blinking at the revelation. Surely something so serious to warrant exile had to be _big. _"What did you _do_? What did _she _do?" 

Her Cousin gave her a level look – but it was no matchfor her pouty face and her Cousin finally wilted under the fact that Rapunzel clearly knew shewas _not_ going to be dissuaded from asking and she gave in with a sigh. 

"Well let's _just_ say that it involved a frying pan, several car chases … and possibly the destruction of a small dam". 

"…You blew up a dam" 

"_Small_ dam" 

"You … you_ BLEW UP A-?"_

"Anna, forget the dam! The _point_ I'm trying to get to is after Gothel was fired … I honestly didn't know what to _do_. I mean I _hated _her, but she was also all I had – as sad as it sounds. Then, suddenly, I was on my own. I had always had someone telling me what to do and if I thought I was lonely before … well, now that I was _expected _to make friends, crazy as it sounds, things were a _lot_ scarier for me. Here I was, the heir to the throne of the planet, all these social climbers who Gothel had been keeping away for years all suddenly being invited in, all crowding around me, pulling me in fifteen different directions … After a week or so I … I couldn't _take it_ anymore. It was just too much – and the irony was killing me. There I was, desperate to make friends for years. And now I was being encouraged to go nuts … but it was so overwhelming to me that in the end, I just ran off to my tower and locked the door. In fact, Mom told me later that the court Doctors were increasingly sure that I was suffering from a mild form of agoraphobia after spending so many years isolated". 

"Rapunzel locked up in the tower? Cliché much?" Anna almost instinctively tried to lighten the mood like each of them always did for the other, earning a small smile in return, the timid and uncertain look vanishing from her cousins' face almost at once in the face of her gentle snark. 

"My parents pointed this out to me several times I can assure you" she acknowledged. "But my timing as always was pretty pathetic. Right in the middle of all this, well, we got word about what happened to your parents".

Anna felt the pang that always came when she thought about that horrible night strike her heart again but almost in annoyance this time, she dismissed it, far too engrossed in her cousin's tale.

"So they had to leave quickly to make it to Arendelle for the funeral leaving me alone, _really _alone for the first time. It … was a really hard month for me" she muttered.

Then suddenly her eyes widened and her head snapped around as she realized what she had said.

"God Anna, I mean – it was hard, but it was _nothing_ compared to what you were going through" she hastily clarified, an expression of mild horror at her choice of worlds flashing across her face. "That is-" 

"Punz. It's _okay_" she assured the other, both touched and embarrassed by the sudden reaction. The last thing she wanted was her Cousin thinking that _her_ hardship was _any _less valid or painful to Rapunzel than what _she_ had gone through. "You were going through a hard time. I was going through a hard time – your issues were _just_ as big to you as mine were to me. That's all there is to it". 

"…I'm not sure I agree, but thanks for saying it" Rapunzel sighed, reaching over again to squeeze her hand with a soft smile, before she gathered herself and continued. "To get to the point, I sort of hid out in my room for a few weeks while my parents went to Arendalle, making excuses to beg off from talking to all the girls climbing over each other to invite me to their estates for a week, and all the guys trying to … well, as one of them put it, asking me to let him 'mount my golden hair' … and he was _not _looking at my head when he said that". 

"A guy said that to you?" Anna chocked out in shock, her cheeks flushing a bright scarlet at the implications of the words. She had led a somewhat sheltered life sure, but not _that _sheltered – and the idea that someone would have the audacity to say something like _that _to her cousins' face… 

"Well – I cleaned it up a little" Rapunzel replied with a slight blush of her own across her flawless skin and Anna cringed slightly at the implications in that statement. "Anyway, I couldn't deal with it all, it was just too overwhelming. So I tried to hide away until my parents got back. And when they did, when they explained a few days later that you had come with them to live here for the next few years … I didn't even wait around long enough for them to explain that you were not _exactly_ in the best place right now. I just fell in love with the idea of having a family member, a friend I might actually be able to handle in my house right there waiting for me". 

"And you came crashing through the window". 

"Yeah … I might have gotten a _little _carried away" she admitted with a blush. "I can, uh, do that sometimes. So people tell me anyway. 

"And I am incredibly glad you did" Anna replied with every ounce of sincerity she could put into her voice. "I needed someone to drag me out of bed and back to life – and, like I said, that's why I owe you so much". 

"And like I'm trying to tell you" Rapunzel sighed in exasperation, with a roll of her stunning green eyes, "I was a terrified shut in who wanted to reach out to someone, but was too terrified to do so. When you started dragging _me_ around, wingmaning _me_ to public events and outside into the city, my life changed. When you stared down any of the social climbers who pushed too hard, when you punched that _idiot_ Ralph out cold when he tried to make a drunken pass at me… And that night you dragged me out clubbing last year … when we got home, it hit me that I hadn't felt anxious or uneasy _all night_. I realized then that it had been you – _you_ Red, had gotten me past my fear of the world. You taught me to embrace the world! I might, I _might_ have helped you get through a sad part of your life … you started mine". 

"Let's … just say we saved each other?" Anna suggested shyly. 

"Deal" her Cousin decided, extending her hand which Anna took with a laugh, trying to not blush too much at the genuine emotion her cousin was stirring. She honestly didn't _feel_ at all worthy of her cousin crediting her with helping her … but then her cousin didn't seem to think that she was worthy of the, in her opinion, _blindingly_ obvious credit for saving her from the darkness she had sunk into after her parents had died and her sister abandoned her.

So she'd split the difference with her.

"Personally, I think that the big change was noticeable after you got that holodisk delivered" Punz reflected after a minute or so of comfortable silence between them, glancing at the bulkhead mounted display that showed a graphic of their descent and an estimated time to the ground for ten minutes as they descended into the mesosphere, the darkness of space outside steadily giving way to a lightening blue hue. "You seemed to really cheer up after that was delivered". 

"It's not every day you get a message from the Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth" Anna smiled slightly at the memory, before she frowned at the look on her cousins' face. "What?" 

"You … got a message from the _Archon_?" Rapunzel almost spluttered in shock, and Anna felt a frown cross her face. 

"I told you about that"

Her cousin slowly shook her head with wide eyes.

"I must have!"

Again her cousin shook her head and Anna bit her lip. 

"I knew you got a message on Holodisk, but you didn't say who it was from and I wouldn't pry into your life like that. To be honest, I always thought it was, well, something Elsa sent you". 

"I can't believe – you're _serious _that I never showed it to you – I never even _mentioned _who it was from?" Anna asked in genuine confusion. 

"Nope" 

Anna felt a look of utter consternation passing across her face as she took in the revelation.

"I swear … I thought I _had_…" she muttered, mostly to herself. 

"Anna, it's cool, don't worry about it-"

"But I _want_ to show you!" she insisted.  
Although on reflection she wondered if that was entirely true. She had absolutely no problem showing her_ now _… but back when she had first received the message it had become something incredibly precious to her. Something incredibly personal that had helped her set aside her grief over her parent's death – or at least bring back the _good _memories of her parents to fight back the dark memory of their loss. The idea that the most powerful woman in the Inner Sphere with far too many demands on her time would take time out to send her a personal message … it had genuinely touched her in a very special way.

Still, the _least_ she could do for her cousin who had shared so much of herself was to share _this_.

"Hang on a sec" she muttered, turning and digging furiously into the pouch next to her seat, pawing around for a few minutes until she found her noteputer among all the other bits and pieces she had stored there over their trip. She still had the original holodisk – it was actually packed in her luggage- but she had copied the file across to her personal computer years ago so she could view it if she ever felt like she needed a little 'pick me up'. Pulling open a tiny compartment in her armrest, she pulled out a datalink cable and plugged it in, quickly tapping in the commands on the slide out keyboard to route the display to the large holoscreen on the wall of their cabin. 

"Uh, you can just read the message to me – you don't have to put it up" her Cousin pointed out with a confused look. 

"Who said anything about _reading_ a message?" Anna couldn't help but smirk archly, as the screen blanked from its flight data, replaced with the Fist of the Lyran Commonwealth, which mutated after a moment into the Fist and Sunburst of the Federated Commonwealth. A delightfully _almost_ strangled noise of astonishment came from her cousins' mouth as after a few more seconds that too dissolved into a picture of none other than Archon Melissa Steiner sitting on her throne in the Triad on Thakard. Visible left and right of her were the well-polished legs of the _Griffin_ Battlemechs that stood behind and protected the throne of the leader of the Lyran Commonwealth, although they were lost quickly to view as the camera zoomed in to focus on the others sombre, yet warm face. 

"My … _God_" her cousin choked out, her emerald eyes wide as saucers and Anna couldn't help but feel a slightly selfish sense of smug pride flow across her at the reaction. A personal video message from perhaps the most beloved and certainly the most powerful women in the Inner Sphere was just … completely out of scope of most people's minds to deal with. Even lower level nobility on Thakard itself had little chance to ever do more than shake hands with their Archon in a receiving line. A personal video message hand delivered to the other side of the Federated Commonwealth in the middle of a major war …

_That_ was something else. 

"Good day to you, Anna Jorgensson" the stunning woman greeted them from the screen in a strong, yet kindly voice. Forty years old – 'and going on twenty five' as many female social commentators on talk shows across known space often complained, the Archon sat on her throne with the grace and dignity of one born to rule. It did not however in any way make her look remote or distant. There was a warmth in her eyes even framed as they were by the expression of regret and sorrow across her face that made even a video message seem intensely personal and special.  
"I deeply regret that the first time we have been able to talk, so to speak, has been under such tragic circumstances" the Archon continued. "I had the great privilege of meeting your sister when my Husband and I visited your parents on Arendelle in '34, when she was pregnant with you. And I truly hope to visit you in person one day, so I may be properly introduced to you as someone other than, as your mother put it, 'this kid who thinks my diaphragm is a bongo placed there for her personal entertainment'".

Rapunzel covered her mouth as she tried, with only partial success, to hold back her laughter at the quip, her face flushing from the effort. Anna, despite having heard the words many times before couldn't help but giggle slightly thanks to the incredibly infectious reaction of her cousin. Sharing it with her made it almost brand new again, her reactions sparking an echo of the feelings in herself.

"Your mother … was a dear friend" the Archon continued a moment later after pausing to compose herself. "The story of how we met is known to very few people – a secret we kept because it had become something precious to those of us 'in the know'. As I'm sure you have read in your history books, I was secretly on New Avalon in 3028, working with my husband to conceive a heir to Our Thrones. As far as the rest of the Inner Sphere knew, I had returned from Terra to Thakard with my Mother as the Forth Succession War raged on. And excepting handpicked guards at the Davion Palace, only seven people on New Avalon knew the truth. Until one evening, when I was walking to Hanse's personal library, a door slammed open and your mother came storming through from a party downstairs, a hapless pair of Davion Guardsman trying to stop her and having absolutely no luck before she crashed into me – quite literally – and sent both of us to the floor"

Now Rapunzels snickering ramped up into barely restrained laughter.

"Suffice to say, it was a bit of a shock that your Mother was able to bypass eight separate security layers and get herself into such trouble without anyone even realizing it – although I would slowly learn that your mother had something of a knack for getting into places she really had no business being".

_Some things never change!_ The look Rapunzel shot at her then said.

_Look who's talking! _Her own gaze shot back before they both turned back to the screen.

"Because my presence remained such a high-level secret" the Archons image said, "your Mother quickly became an extended personal 'guest' of Hanse to ensure it remained so. Yet despite the fact that she was under virtual house arrest in the Davion Palace, your mother was by far the freest person I have ever had the privilege of meeting in my life, bar none. She could brighten anyone's day just by walking into a room – and did so many times during the harder days of the war. She taught me all about New Avalon, all about the Federated Suns. Those hundreds of things you would never _think_ to ask someone about, yet found that you truly wanted to know. I loved Hanse deeply after we were married, but your Mother spent months almost bullying the First Prince of the Federated Suns to make sure that we spent _much_ more time together than we otherwise might have. And despite his initial irritation, I know that Hanse came to genuinely appreciate her efforts. When Morgan was given the gravest news about his Father, she was there with Kym, his future wife. For days she would simply sit and listen to his stories of his family, making sure he was never alone. She encouraged him to grieve for his Father's death and helped assure him that no matter what his Father had done, he had every right to mourn his passing. She helped him come to peace with the past, to stand up and assume the burdens Hanse was forced to put onto his shoulders".

Anna couldn't help but wonder at the differences between the woman the Archon described and the one she had known all her life. Her mother had always seemed so … sober. So careful, so cautious. Controlled … almost frightened in some way she didn't understand. There had been love yes - but always a distant expression of sorrow and regret in the back of her eyes whenever she asked about Elsa that had made _her _sad, knowing deep down that whatever she had done to scare Elsa that had forced them apart …

And yet, much like she had with Morgan Hasek-Davion, so many nights she had stayed by her bed, singing her softly to sleep when she had felt so lonely…

"In January 29' Hanse decided that he trusted your mother to keep the secret and allowed her to leave the palace" Melissa continued her story faintly with a smile, bringing her attention back. Anna frowned slightly and tapped up the volume a few notches as the roar of the Dropships fusion drive increased as they came down out of the Stratosphere, their rate of descent slowing as they commenced final alignment with the Spaceport. "I left New Avalon in July, but was honoured to have secretly attended your parents wedding just before doing so. Your father was _quite_ the eligible Batchelor at the time and had a great many other Noble ladies vying for his attention – quite furiously too I might say. I must confess to you that after your mother had shyly commented one day that she had quite the crush on him after meeting him at a function earlier that year, I … well, lets just say I made it _my_ business to ensure that they would meet again". The Archon paused for a moment to let the slightest hint of an embarrassed flush pass across her face. "And … again … and _again … _several times. Hanse too spent no small amount of effort behind the scenes quietly encouraging the two families to allow the match as a gesture of both apology to your mother for inconveniencing her, as well as thanks for all she had done for Us and to Our delight, your parents indeed fell deeply in love with each other and were married later that year".

Now the Archon paused, leaning back in her throne and seemingly staring deep into her from that position, her expression still gentle, but with an iron edge in it. The face of the leader – of someone who had made countless hard decisions in her life and had made her peace with them, because the alternative was to go mad.

"I left New Avalon to return to Thakard – but your mother and I stayed in touch through the next decade. After my Mother passed away and I ascended to this Throne, the letters became a little more infrequent –we were both busy, both with our Thrones and both with our children. But I treasured every HPG message – her yearly wrap ups were a high point of my Christmas year in and year out. We traded news and gossip. We exchanged well wishes and fond memories … but more than anything else, we traded news of our children. More than one long day of dealing with affairs of state ended in relief for me as I found a new HPG message from your mother, gushing on about you or Elsa. Her delight as Elsa's French vocabulary widened with her diligent practice. Her unabashed pride in you Anna, the day you first tried to ride a bike and fell off within seconds, but instantly got back up again and again, without hesitation or fear until you got the hang of it. Your father often spoke of how much you reminded him of your mother – as much as your mother fondly spoke of how much of your father she could see in Elsa. And how much of Elsa she could see in you and vice versa".

The pain of the memories her words invoked sharply hit Anna, as it always did. But she forced them to the side, taking strength from the seemingly implacable woman on the screen and her cousin watching in rapt attention next to her.

"I _had_ been pushing your parents to bring you both to visit us on New Avalon for the last few years – although the Clan Invasion had made these plans quite impossible; I simply could not leave my capital when the Commonwealth was being invaded. And of all the things that their invasion has cost me personally, not being able to say goodbye to Idun and Adgar … " the Archon cut off suddenly, seemingly taking a moment to get herself under control as her expression slipped for just a split second, before she nodded, at once back in control. "I know you are hurting right now Anna. I know your sister is too. I have the heads of two different intelligence agencies on speed dial so despite the fact that your parents went out of their way to _try_ and keep it from me, I _know_ that you and your sister have been separated for a long time. With so many of my Children out of contact for so long with each other, I have some idea how hard it can be to be separated from the ones we love. For all its glamour and beauty, trust me when I tell you that a throne can be so incredibly …lonely… to sit on. I know it must have been hard, all the years you and Elsa have been separated … but everything I have heard about you tells me that you are undeniably your mother's daughter Anna. You have that same precious gift of bringing joy to those around you simply by _being_ – and Elsa will need you, more than she knows in the years ahead. It may not be easy, indeed it may be so incredibly hard for the two of you to reconnect with each other … but _I_ none the less charge you with finding a way to make it happen. If it takes a day, a year or more, _make it happen _– and always remember that wherever they are now, your parents will _always_ be smiling down upon both of you".

And with no fanfare, the video message ended with the Archons final firm nod, the screen cutting to black before switching back to the external camera view of the spaceport under them only a few thousand feet away, the thunder of the ships engines increasing as yet more thrust was poured on to slow their descent rate to a steady ten meters per second, the roar making conversation difficult.

But not impossible. And her cousin would never let a little thing like ambiet noise stop her from being heard. 

"She was right you know" her Cousin spoke up suddenly, causing Anna to glance across at her. 

"Right about what?" Anna questioned as she took in the level emerald gaze. 

"Well, everything, but most especially that you spread love everywhere you go just by being … _you_" Rapunzel clarified. "I don't think you even realize you do it; you just … _do_. Look, Anna, I know you've never said much about Elsa to me, but I have an idea of just how much she hurt you by sending you to live with me after your parent's died. And the reason it hurt you so much could only be because you still cared so much about her that it hurts you to even think about it".

Anna felt a wave of shock ripple through her as her cousin laid out everything so … _directly _on the table. Rapunzel had always been so _careful_ around the topic of her sister, knowing it was a difficult subject … but then again, it was getting to be an elephant in the room given that they were on _final approach to Arendelle city!_ And perhaps she took her silence as a sign to continue rather than a mixture of stunned shock and angst, because her cousin kept going after a moment.

"You've been getting more and more anxious as we got closer and closer to your home – you were so tightly wound up half an hour ago that you went spinning into zero-G when I called your name out. I … I understand that you're nervous, even scared – and that's okay! You're _totally_ entitled to be a little on the edge right now! But I know you Anna. I know that you still care about Elsa so much and now that you're about to be reunited, you're probably thinking of about a million ways this could all go wrong every second.

Anna remained silent. Her cousin was hardly _wrong _after all…

"So uh, the point I'm trying to embarrassingly trying to stagger towards … look … just, _be yourself. _Don't try to overthink this, don't try to come up with super complicated plans or words or whatever – just _be you_. You could turn the most hard-core Clanner into a big softie with a few days' work. If your sister for some insane reason has forgotten how much she loves you, she'll fall back _in _love with you by the end of the week. Sister love that is, not … well _love_ love … uch you know what I mean!" the other flustered for a second, and despite herself, a smile started to work its way onto Annas face as she reached out and one last time took the others hand. 

"I know" she assured her with the smile exploding onto her face slightly shy perhaps, but still showing the affection she felt for the excitable brunet sitting next to her. 

"And if she tries to go and hide behind a door again" the other added with an expression so absolutely serious on her face that Anna honestly would have been unable to determine if she _was _joking or not, "I will _blow it down _and drag her, kicking and screaming if necessary, outside".


	4. Chapter 3

_**Word**__: Arendelle  
__**Star Type: **__G2v  
__**Position in System: **__2__nd__ of 5  
__**Recharge Station: **__Yes – Zenith  
__**Time to Jump Point:**__ 9 Days  
__**Gravity: **__1.02 G  
__**Satellites**__: None  
__**Surface Water: **__79%  
__**Atmospheric Type: **__Nitrogen/Oxygen mix – Approximately Terran Standard  
__**Population**__: ~2.4 Billion - 3052 census to New Avalon  
__**USII Rating**__: ABABA  
__**ComStar HPG Facility**__: Class B-I under Precentor Richard William.  
__**Standing Garrison**__: Arendelle Militia  
__**Planetary Leader: **__Regent Sir Roger Landers in the name of Her Grace Duchess Elsa Jorgensson  
_

**Atlas of the Inner Sphere: The Federated Suns. 3052 Edition. ComStar Press.**

**Arendelle City Spaceport  
Arendelle  
Crucis March  
Federated Commonwealth  
May 09 – 3053**

Time was running out.  
Anna could feel it slipping away from her.  
And this … was not a new feeling.

No matter how fast she moved in life, no matter how much she hurried herself and tried to do things as quickly as possible, she was forever one step behind where she needed to be and a moment too slow doing what she was supposed to be doing.

Generally, this was because she could be rather _easily_ distracted.

Today though, she had not been distracted by the events that were rushing towards her. If anything, she had been overwhelmed by thoughts of what was going to happen over the next few days and been unable to think of _anything_ else. Hyper-focused if you will on the return to her home, reunion with her sister and the investment.

And as a result … she may have lingered a _little_ longer than she should have in the shower as she had let the water wash away her stress and worries.

The zero-G conditions and extremely limited water supplies on board dropships made showers a laughable idea for even the most senior of nobility short of House Lords; it just wasn't practical. Instead, like everyone else, Anna had been making do with disposable cleansing towels to keep clean over the two week trip from Corona to Arendelle.

And efficient and hygienic as they were, they offered nothing of the bliss of a long blast of water and scrub down under normal gravity.

Unsurprisingly, a great many other people over many centuries of human interstellar spaceflight had come to feel the same way. So much so that spaceport terminals across the Inner Sphere had long been built with extensive floors of private day-suits for VIP passengers disembarking from dropships to freshen up in, having often spent weeks or months jumping from system to system. Arendelle City Starport was no different in that sense; the VIP terminal their dropship had landed at boasted hundreds private suits in which a person with enough cash or social status could clean up before either facing their adoring public, or catching a final connecting flight to elsewhere on the planet. Anna and Rapunzel had barely been able to keep control of themselves as they had hurried off the dropship, clutching the electronic keys that had been delivered to them as they blew past the valets been sent to help them in favour of making better time. And indeed, as soon as they had waved goodbye to each other at the doors to their rooms, all decorum was thrown at the window.

Ignoring the food, champagne and other gifts laid out in the sitting room, Anna had moved straight for the bathroom, scattering clothes in every which direction as she did so, absently tossing her bags onto a convenient leather couch in passing. Staggering into the shower recess as she finally managed to pull her right boot off and kick it off somewhere into the main room, she twisted the taps and was greeted with a blast of water from a half dozen cunningly concealed shower heads, moaning in pleasure as the scalding warmth flowed across her body like a warm hug.

Common wisdom held that every human across the Inner Sphere was most comfortable on exactly two worlds. Terra, humanities homeworld was the first of course. No matter how far away you came from, it was considered inevitable that the sheer force the planet sculpting mankind over millions of years meant that the Earth had a rather unfair advantage in making you feel like you _belonged_ there.

The same wisdom however held that the world you were born on would also forever hold a claim on your soul. Because the gravity would always be _just _right. Where the air was _just _right. Where a thousand different sounds, smells and sights triggered a hundred and one subtle feelings associated with 'home' in the back of your mind that simply meant things felt different on 'your' world compared with any other.  
Anna would have vouch for the truth of the matter at that point in time – if of course her brain hadn't been turned into warm mush by the flood of water having its way with her. The gravity on Arendelle was barely five percent lighter than on Corona, but she was distantly convinced she could _feel _the difference standing there as her muscles slowly relaxed and unknotted under the heat, feeling all stress and worries she had been carrying around pouring down the drain with the water. All the aches and pains from her extended space trip that had built up in Zero-G vanished under the caress of the pulsed jets. And in the thick clouds of steam that choked the bathroom … Anna felt time itself become irrelevant.

Of course, time _didn't _actually stand still. And so when she lazily rolled her head around, luxuriating in the relaxed feeling of her neck muscles and just so happened to catch a glimpse of the clock mounted on the wall, she had let out a profanity that made her face blush as she was snapped back to reality.

She had meant to spent, at most, fifteen minutes in the shower before getting out to get changed.

She had been in here for over _thirty._

Slamming the taps off, Anna all but leaped out of the shower, snatching a bathrobe hanging on the wall in passing with frantic motions. Franticly, she worked to dry herself off, grabbing a towel and going to town on her hair in one hand as she blasted a hair dryer on maximum power on the other. The somewhat rushed efforts left her hair a nightmare of a mess going in every direction, but she ignored it for now as she hurried out of the bathroom to rip open her first bag and pull on fresh undergarments in record time before heaving it across the room in the general direction of the massively oversized vanity in the corner. Tearing open her second bag in a hurry, she then forced herself to _stop, _count to five and take her time as she carefully started to take out and put on her clothes. It was a lesson beaten into her by her cousin after one too many of her dresses had been wrinkled beyond easy wearability while rushing through her rather impressive wardrobe looking for something.

Getting dressed didn't take that long though, and after making a quick inspection of her appearance, she moved to tame the gorgon nightmare that was her hair, sitting down at the vanity and trying to ignore the _distinctive_ smell of something made out of freshly cooked chocolate coming from a table off to the side. Abandoning any thoughts of attempting the more exotic and time consuming hair styles she had planned on given the time, worked a brush through it ruthlessly and pinned it into place, one hand groping absently into her bag for the compartment containing makeup and other accessories for a hair clip … then paused as she felt her hands come across a small box she had _completely_ forgotten about.

Finishing the pinning and brushing, she reached down and withdrew the velvet covered box, placing it almost reverently on the desk before carefully opening up and looking at the treasure inside.

It was a hair elastic – but calling it that didn't do it the slightest justice. Her 18th Birthday present from her Aunt and Uncle, the 'elastic' was actually a type of elasticized myomer fibre, set into a stylized metal disk about five centimetres wide. Embedded in the centre of the disk –in _pure_ gold- was a stylized golden star, the national star of Corona to be precise. But while the Coronan flag simply placed the stylized star on a purple backdrop, this disk had been coloured in purple _and _green divided neatly down the middle, the national colours of Arendelle.

And orbiting the golden sun were a _breathtakingly_ detailed pair of crocus flowers, chasing each other in a great circle. The national symbol of _her _world as the sun was the symbol of theirs, not made out of gold but made out of sequences of perfectly cut and polished emeralds.

It was a stunning piece of art that she had always been too terrified to wear, not even wanting to _think _about how much it would have cost - but on impulse, she carefully took it out of its velvet lined box, gathering her long hair draped down her back that had been brushed into submission and drawing it together at the back of her head. A swift turn and adjustment and she had the clip in place, letting it gather her hair to fall down her back in a loose kind of ponytail

It somehow felt _right _today to wear the gift that celebrated her family from two worlds – and the _two_ homes she had had in her life.

With that done, she glanced at the clock on the desk nervously and found to her pleasant surprise she had made up some time by keeping her hair simple; now she was only running about _ten_ minutes late. Standing – and again supressing the twitch of her head towards the delightful smell, she took a final critical look at her chosen clothes and decided the teal blouse and charcoal skirt and leggings worked well enough together, striking a balance between formality and casualness she could live with.

Although she was _sure_ Rapunzel would have shaken her head and tisked at getting dressed in anything but her _very_ finest for this occasion.

She only lost a minute trying to find where the hell she had kicked her left boot off to, pulling it on with one last with a snarl of complaint at the stiff leather, regretting her choice not to pack momentarily before reflecting on d. She eschewed the idea of taking any of her limited jewellery and applied onto the smallest hint of lipstick before she nodded, deciding she looked about as best as she could given the time and her rather plain looks.

And so she turned towards the door …

Then she found her feet weren't moving.

She fought with herself for a good ten seconds … then she just gave in with a helpless whimper and spun around to face the cameral truffle head on. Glaring at its mocking satisfaction at breaking her, she snatched one up and let loose a soft moan of pleasure as she consumed it, her taste buds exalting in the rich taste … then added several more, just to be sure. It took a new act of supreme willpower she didn't think she had in herself to walk away from the dozens of other samples on offer, washing the taste down with a quick gulp of water from a convenient bottle before she picked up her bags and hurried to the door -

And almost fell over as she near ran into the staff member waiting outside for her.

"Woah!" she squeaked as she crashed to a halt, now _very _glad she didn't have heels on. If she had, she no doubt would have gone quite literally head _over _heels into the poor man. "Sorry!"

"No apologies necessary My Lady" the darker skinned man dressed in an immaculate suit replied with a smile. "May I take your bags?"

"Oh – of course" she agreed with a slightly embarrassed smile as she finally noticed the luggage trolley in front of him already loaded with other peoples bags. "These…"

"Will be delivered directly to your hotel" the other assured her at once and Anna nodded before spinning and not _quite _running down the short corridor to the exit. Tonight, she was staying in the same hotel as her Cousin, Aunt and Uncle. She _probably_ could have just moved straight back to the palace … but honestly, she was finding it overwhelming enough to just be back home. A full night's sleep before she came face to face with her sister – especially as _she_ probably had a _lot_ of preparation to get done- was probably for the best.

Her hair swinging behind her, Anna hurried through the automatic doors at the end of the passage to the grand staircase that descended into the brightly lit VIP concourse, filled now with hundreds of self-important people shuffling from other dropships towards the much more distant customs areas and duty-free shops, suddenly feeling at a loss in the crowd for where to go. The local staff were thankfully on the ball however, a man waiting just outside the doors at once gesturing her across to a door marked 'Royal Lounge' down the stairs and on the other side of the concourse with another pair of security guards waiting.

Hurrying down the stairs and leaving a trail of squeaks of 'sorry!' in her wake as she cut across the slow procession of people pushing trolleys piled with luggage towards customs, Anna hurried to the door. The Security Guard there politely opened the door for her and Anna rushed in ….

… and at once found herself sliding across a polished wooden floor with a sequel of leather on wood, coming to a precise halt two meters away from her aunt and uncle, standing with the rest of their delegation from Corona in the spacious, gleaming room and clearly waiting for her to arrive.

"Very dramatic entrance Anna" her Aunt laughed as she came to a halt. Anna blushed bright red at that, yet was thankful that she hadn't either been left behind from her tardiness … or crashed into a senior official and started a diplomatic incident. Instead, her Aunt just looked her up and down, closely studying her chosen outfit then nodded approvingly with a smile. "You look _lovely_ dear".

"Thank you, Aunt Iversen" she replied only slightly shyly as she forced herself to pause, regain what dignity she had left, and calmly simulate the poise years of painful lessons by the court protocol tutors had hammered into her both on Corona and here on Arendelle. "You look lovely yourself".  
And it was entirely true; her Aunt, one of her few living blood relatives always choose to wear simple looking clothes with just a few choice bits of jewellery, often just a string of pearls. And yet, she managed to always look as regal and stunning as the greatest of nobility. She almost defined 'less is more' as a fashion choice, letting her natural beauty speak for itself without the need for accents. Anna had always tried to copy her style, but had never _quite _pulled it off.

She was just too … ordinary. Too plain. Too … Anna.

"Of course I look lovely" the other sniffed and turned dramatically in an over the top way and Anna had to work hard to squelch a giggle at her over the top airs. "You're suggesting I wouldn't? Oh the horror!"

"I'd never dare" Anna smiled as she turned to face her Uncle. "And _you_ look rather dashing My Lord" she noted with a functional, yet somehow almost impish looking curtsey towards him.

"I believe the word you are looking for is 'old', beloved niece" he chuckled back gravely, stroking his beard in amusement as he subtly started to carefully fiddle with his jacket, before a quick glare from his wife instantly made him stop. Cut in a military fashion, it was a very fine looking garment indeed, with a number of medals pinned over his breast both showing both awards he had earned as a Mechwarrior with the AFFS _and_ his status as the Duke of Corona. He wasn't wearing the spurs most Davion Mechwarriors wore to formal occasions – mostly because this wasn'ttechnically a uniform- but he none the less clearly took a great pride in his service with the 33rd Avalon Hussars through the 4th Succession War - when they had captured Liao from the Capellan Confederation. Perhaps the single greatest accomplishment in the history of the corps.

Or so he liked to insist anyway.

"You're only sixty" she scoffed at his response. And besides, her uncle didn't _exactly_ act like your average sixty year old; still insisting on joining the monthly weekend training and yearly major exercises with the Corona Militia. The first time he had done so, she had asked why in curiosity, being told in return that it was his duty as Duke to 'set the right example of civic duty for his people' – although her aunt had scoffed at that claim when Anna had relayed it later that afternoon. _She_ insisted that it was much more an excuse for her husband and a bunch of retired veterans to go and relieve their glory days by stomping around in their war machines that anything else.

Not sure who to believe, Anna had sought out her cousins opinion on the matter. Rapunzel however had been far too busy sulking to offer any help, annoyed with the fact that the countless vids she had watched that depicted Mechwarriors as incredibly charming 20 something year olds with bodies that professional athletes would kill for were _grossly_ misleading. Instead, she had found only the grizzled older veterans of the Corona Militia. All of whom were mostly long mustered out of the AFFS, were mostly long married family men - and often _grandparents_ to boot!

Punz's sulking had really been quite remarkable that day – even more so when it turned out that said veterans were _far_ too smart allow either of them to poke around their Battlemech cockpits, no matter _how_ sweetly they asked. Apparently, their reputations for causing chaos and mayhem had proceeded them, as the idea of them sitting in the cockpit of the most powerful weapons platforms on the planet, no matter how locked down they were, had made the senior NCOs chaperoning them around the 'Mech bay 'twitchy' for some reason.

And speaking of her cousin…

"Where _is_ Rapunzel?" she wondered aloud as it finally dawned on her that her cousin was nowhere to be seen. Glancing around the room and not finding her, she double checked the buffet table with a suspicious look, ready to yank her cousin back if she looked about to go off her diet _again_. God only knows what Rapunzel would do with herself when she returned to Corona, without Anna looking over her shoulder. These days if that girl so much as caught a _whiff_ of hazelnut soup within walking distance…

Then again, she worriedly remembered how easily _her_ willpower had folded in the face of that mocking platter of chocolates only minutes ago, without her Cousin around to slap her hand back like she always did…

"She's running late" her Uncle replied with a slight shrug to her question, dragging her attention back. "She'll catch up when she catches up – that girl can take _forever _to get dressed".

Anna could only nod at that. It was after all, perfectly true. While _she _could get dressed in a whirlwind of motion, her cousin was a _perfectionist_. Thank goodness she had at least cut her hair, the sheer amount of time Punz used to spend just sitting there brushing it … and brushing it … and _brushing it_…  
"And it's a good thing you showed up; we just got a request from the formal welcoming committee for you to go in at once – so you'd better get cracking".

"What? Me?" she asked, taken slightly aback. "Shouldn't … you two and Rapunzel go first?"

"Anna" her Aunt laughed softly, "this isn't Corona – its Arendelle. Here, _you_ are the second highest ranking member of the local nobility after your sister. In this case, protocol dictates that _you _go first"

"Oh - right" she remembered, successfully fighting off the sudden urge to facepalm at her embarrassment. After all, it wasn't as if they hadn't gone over this yesterday … but to be honest, her thoughts at the time kept had kept locking in with laser like focus upon two lines on the fifth page on the formal itinerary that had been transmitted up to their ship.

_May 10 - 17:50 ACST – The Lady Anna Jorgensson assumes her place in the Great Hall  
May 10 – 18:00 ACST – The Lady Elsa Jorgensson enters the Great Hall and joins her Sister_

"Right! I've, uh, got this!" she declared, shaking off her preoccupation with a perhaps slightly over the top show of confidence, smiling openly.

_Decorum. Poise. Serenity. Confidence._ She quietly repeated the words her protocol tutors had desperately –and mostly unsuccessfully- tried to push into her head as she drew herself up. An encouraging nod and smile from her Aunt and Uncle and she was off, weaving her way through the room filled with probably a hundred other low and mid ranked nobles from all over the place, with probably several times that many staffers and family members along for the ride. Almost all of them none the less offered formal bows to her as she walked past confidently, apparently having picked up that she was the one they were waiting on and she tried her best to politely incline her head in return – while trying her very best not to blush at the rather … appraising … looks some of the younger men threw her way, firmly keeping her pace steady, elegant and unhurried.

The two staff members in front of the door wearing the most formal uniforms of the Arendelle customs service snapped to attention at some unseen signal as she cleared the crowd that was slowly moving up in her wake. Both offered her a formal bow in unison, before swivelling on their heels to open the oaken doors for her that led from the holding room to the final passage terminating in the VIP arrivals gate in the main terminal. She made herself slow down long enough to give them both her thanks with a dimpled smile, earning bashful smiles in return on their previously implacable faces before she stepped past them, entering a brightly lit tunnel that curved to the left sharply. The doors closed behind her and almost at once down the tunnel, she heard a brazen fanfare start - no doubt called in by the two people behind her now that she was finally on her way.

She was not sure _who_ was waiting for her. Certainly not her Sister Some local official senior enough to get the annoying job of trudging down to the spaceport and welcoming back the long lost spare she guessed. But she would not embarrass her sister by giving anything but her best. Taking another deep breath, she raised her chin and strode calmly around the corner with a confident stride.

In the defence of the Spaceport staff for what was about to happen, things had gotten a _little_ more chaotic then usual this morning.

It was always going to be an incredibly busy day, with so many guests arriving for the coronation ceremony from off-world and around the world via suborbital Aerodyne, but the sudden last minute notification that the representative from New Avalon was both arriving four hours earlier than anticipated … and that said representative was the Archon-Prince Designate … well, _that _had caused any number of heart attacks in legions of protocol officers as plans prepared and refined over the last year were tossed into the nearest trash receptacle and replaced with a cunning mixture of panic and innovation, understandably making one or two false assumptions along the way.

It didn't help that the local security forces found their own calm world turned upside down with the arrival of the advanced force from MIIO, under the operational command of the Intelligence Directorate Bureau. What had been a carefully conceived security plan more concerned about crowd control then any _real _threat to high ranking people had been looked at … and promptly thrown out the window by the counterintelligence agents as they went to work locking down every venue Victor would visit, stay at or attend. There was no _anticipated_ threat mind you – it was just that many centuries of well justified paranoia over assassinations through the Succession Wars naturally led to an attitude of 'better safe than sorry' where their new March Lords safety was concerned. And despite being very well practiced at these situations, there was no small amount of chaos as security was dramatically tightened, redeployed and reassessed, leading to ripple effects.

One of those ripples was Anna. When it had suddenly become clear a few hours ago that the Acting March Lord was going to arrive well ahead of schedule, with the Regent _already_ committed to events on the other side of the planet and the Duchess by tradition in seclusion until the big ceremony tomorrow, orders had been frantically sent out by the protocol office attached to the planetary government who had the fun task of trying to coordinate the entire affair, to find someone –anyone!- of sufficient rank to be in place to receive him.

_Someone_ had then had the 'bright' idea of using Anna who was scheduled to arrive at more or less the same time. Granted, she had not functioned in an official capacity on behalf of Arendelle for a very long time, but her rank to do so was of course unimpeachable and she neatly seemed to fit in as the perfect answer to their problems. So a straight forward order had been sent out that even an idiot could follow from the top.

'_Get the _Corona Starburst_ down an hour ahead of schedule and ensure the Lady Anna was in position to receive the Son of the First Prince and Archon, on behalf of her sister'_

Unfortunately of course, reality had jumped in the way of common sense. Hundreds of dropships were converging on the planet from the Zenith and Nadir points with the arrivals scheduled to take place over the rest of the day in pre-ordered landing windows. Such intricate flight were _not_ something lightly altered outside of a military emergency and, unfortunately, the message to flight control had been stripped of the important context of _why _it was necessary to alter twenty different approach vectors to get the _Corona Starburst_ down early.

Perhaps understandably therefore, the rather overworked flight controllers had ignored the message on the grounds of the distinct danger of having to adjust no less than thirty ships burns to scoot the _Starburst_ through – not even deigning to respond to the message as a measure of how much of a waste of time they saw such an exercise to be.

The end result being that the _Corona Starburst_ had landed exactly on time … by the old schedule.

When this fact finally become clear, frantic messages had been thrown around demanding that Anna expedite her transit on landing so they could 'flip' her around to greet the Prince … but due to the heightened local security, _this_ message had too had been delayed, only arriving at the dropship well after Anna had left.

And no-one was stupid enough to try and barge in on the second highest ranking member of the local nobility while she was in the shower, settling for leaving a message with her aunt and uncle to have her hurry through as soon as she arrived.

But even in the worst case scenario, all this should not have resulted in anything more than a moderate diplomatic faux pass. Anna would be late. Prince Victor would be greeted instead by a member of Duchess Elsas household staff – the man who had initially been sent here to greet Anna as it so happened. As soon as the Regent got back this afternoon _he_ would apologise profusely that absolutely no insult was intended and presuming that Prince Victor was as generally disdainful of perfectly following protocol as had been reported by the advanced team, _everything_ would be fine.

None of those calculations had anticipated the wild card known as Anna Jorgensson however.

Because as Anna hurried down the curving passage to the gate, she was unaware that a large party of people were moving down said passage, equally in ignorance of her presence, having narrowly, impossibly, slipped by the final security check by exactly two and a half seconds.

And so with the most perfectly incredible timing possible, Anna's pace carried her straight through the curving sweep towards the brightly lit frosted glass of the gate … and her somewhat scattered frame of mind meant she completely missed the sound of footsteps of the other party that might have warned her, ensuring that she carried on right through the narrow moving gap of the cluster of CID agents who were looking in the wrong direction at the wrong time … and straight into the surprised personage of Victor Ian Steiner Davion.


	5. Chapter 4

*****FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***  
***Cascade HPG Distribution list, FEDCOM-GVMT-FED-AA-11-BDCST-CRUCIS-OPEN-IMD***  
***Office of the First Prince of the Federated Suns***  
***Office of the Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth*****

_'__Be it known throughout the Federated Commonwealth that on this day, the Eighth of April in the year of the Common Era Three Thousand and Fifty Three, we hereby invest Our Son, Victor Ian Steiner Davion, with the duties, responsibilities and obligations of the office of Lord of the Crucis March, to act in Our stead. _

_Be it known that his authority in this office is total, with all delegated ministries and authorities now his to exercise in Our name or distribute as he sees fit._

_Be it known that he accepts this role with the humility and dignity worthy of his station and that he has our supreme confidence that he shall do his family, his friends and his people __proud.'_

_Signed by Our hands; Hanse Davion & Melissa Steiner_

**- Verigraphed HPG ****proclamation ****to all Federated Commonwealth worlds signifying official notification of the change in status of the Crucis March, April 8 3053**

**FCS **_**Barbarossa**_**  
Approach Vector BA-12, Arendelle  
Crucis March  
Federated Commonwealth  
May 09 – 3053  
30 Minutes previously.**

Victor Ian Steiner Davion frowned at the folder in front of him.

When he had accepted the job of March Lord of the Crucis March, Victor knew that he would be thrust into the rough cut and thrust of political life quickly. But the speed at which it seemed every member of the nobility or well-connected business person, extremely distant family member or just general _busybody_ had decided to 'volunteer' their services … was _nuts_.

Barely a day after he and his Father had made the announcement to the press and the public in a packed to capacity Throne Room, unsolicited officers had come pouring into Mount Davion from both halves of the Commonwealth – and even from _outside _the Commonwealth – offering their services. ComStar had probably made a small fortune from the number of priority HPG messages thrown across the Inner Sphere because of the announcement. So much so that he frankly wouldn't be surprised if Primus Mori sent him a message at some point thanking him for all the extra business his announcement had sent her way.

Annoyingly, from the tone of the messages that had rolled in, it seemed most people thought that this whole reshuffle was just a face saving gesture to make him _look _like he was taking on bigger roles without actually doing so; to lift his profile without lifting his workload. It was sort of understandable; after all the title of March Lord was, in of _itself_, largely ceremonial over a normal dukedom. With lots of posing for the cameras, but little day-to-day authority or duties. The _real _work in running a March was done by the Minister of the March – and although they were generally one in the same person meaning it was mostly just a matter of semantics, the Crucis March was run a little differently to the other regions inside the Commonwealth.

Given that the First Prince of the Federated Suns had ultimate authority anyway -and frankly much bigger issues to worry about, it had become tradition for the 'working' titles of Minister and Marshal of the March to be devolved to trusted and capable subordinates who could deal with the day to day issues on his behalf, leaving only the ceremonial duties to deal with –when the Prince could be bothered with them. Joshua Davion on Argyle currently held the post of Minister; head of a distant family line which could point to a proud history of service over the last few centuries. No exception to that tradition, Joshua had performed his job so well that Victor found himself reluctant to lose the man's experience and institutional knowledge, if this whole exercise was to have any real value in teaching him how to rule he _needed _the man to work with him. As there was a fine line to walk between being willing to take on the responsibility and the hubris of thinking that he could do an acceptable job out of the gate, simply because of his last names.

After a few days of reflection on the situation, Victor had drawn up a proposal that would keep Joshua on for at _least_ the next year formally as Minister, giving him the time to move in and carefully set up his own administration on Argyle in a systematic and controlled fashion, to the approval of the various stakeholders.

He suspected that more than one of his father's Ministers on New Avalon was sleeping easier at the news that he was not going to charge in and create a mess _they_ would have to clean up.

Joshua himself had replied to his proposal simply to say that he served at the pleasure of the Davion Family and would be honoured to serve him as he had served his Father. Of course, he wouldn't have _had _the job in the first place if he wasn't fanatically loyal, but it was none the less a relief to get the assurance that there would be no bruised egos after the change of command.

If anything, Victor suspected the canny political operator was looking forward to the idea of being able to mentor and guide the future First Prince personally.

His Father had also praised his considered planning and endorsed his proposals, which had meant a lot to Victor. But in truth, he had only decided on this course after reading through the files on Arendelle and his first official duties thereon. He had noted the way Sir Richard Landers, the regent for Elsa Jorgensson and a thirty year veteran of the Federated Suns Foreign Service had made it a point to ensure Elsa was kept in the loop from the day he had arrived. He had _insisted_ that she attend the cabinet and Peoples Councils meetings as soon as she had been in a fit enough state after the untimely death of her parents. He had clearly taken her under his wing and done his best to impart the decades of peerless political wisdom he had brought to her court, guiding her at first, but slowly stepping back to let her start making increasingly complicated decisions on her own as soon as practical.

Ultimately, Landers had become less her Regent doing his job running the planet and more an advisor or councillor helping _her _to run it. Exactly as his Father had wanted.

Idly, Victor pondered the parallels between his situation and the young Duchess's situation. Both of them had been thrust into a position of authority and responsibility and had needed to quickly come to terms with it. And although they had both been born knowing it would happen one day, neither of them had expected it to happen so soon.

Granted, the scale was different, but it might prove useful to find some time to just talk informally with her over the next few days. Any insights over her regency may well prove useful, saving him time and trouble in the coming months as he stepped up to the plate-

"_Attention all decks_" a crisp military voice suddenly broke into his thoughts over the ships PA system. "_Prepare for immediate gravity changes; we are beginning our descent_".

_Finally _he thought as he carefully gathered the folders from across his tiny table and secured them all in the small safe bolted to the deck. He made sure to double check the safe was locked, before he stood, taking a glance around his cabin as he did.

His quarters on the _Barbarossa_ were cramped, at least compared to a luxury civilian transport. But compared to the standard crew and passenger berths he was used to from his time in the AFFC, they were positively _roomy_. Victor had always disdained and fought hard against the idea of special treatment based on his name – and getting one of exactly four single cabins on board the cramped _Excalibur _class dropship had probably done more to make the reality of his new position hit home than anything else

Ultimately though, he had spent as little time as possible in the tiny space, preferring to spend most of his time on the Grav-Decks inside theJumpships that had dragged them from New Avalon to Galax to Arendelle. By long standing naval tradition, Grav-Decks were so called 'no-hat, no-salute' zones where rank was essentially dispensed with and soldiers could just be soldiers - within reason of course- and Victor had made the very most of one last chance to just be 'one of the guys' with the soldiers and officers of the 10th, taking time out to remember all those who had fallen and all those who still lived – generally over shots of Zero-G scotch.

Kai had joined the 'road trip' at Galax, where a makeshift command circuit had dropped off both he and his famous Battlemech, now secured in a 'Mech cradle below. Although technically Kai no longer worked for the AFFC, to the soldiers of the Lyran Guards he would _always_ be the man who had single handily saved all their asses on Twycross, destroying one of the Jade Falcons premier units in the process - among other acts of odds defying skill, making him a welcome part of the party. In a war when the best of the AFFCs Military commands had suffered body blow after body blow, Kai had been a rare beacon of hope with his victories. Even the damn Jade Falcons apparently thought so highly of him that they had granted him safe passage back to the Commonwealth - probably in the hope of getting to face him in battle one day.

Or something.

_You could just never really tell with Clanners_ Victor wryly thought as he secured his door and half walked – half floated towards the nearest vertical shaft in the microgravity, acknowledging the salutes thrown by the few personnel still hurrying to their own landing stations on the way.

Still, behind the legend was the _man_, the man who had lost his Father to an assassin while he was fighting his way back to friendly lines hundreds of light years away, never having a chance to say goodbye. It had been an act of spite by his aunt against her sister, but the end result of all the machinations was that Kai was now directly in line to take the throne of the Capellan Confederation … and a _lot _was riding on him to make this whole new alliance work in the long term.

Victor knew, probably better than _anyone_, what it meant to have such daunting expectations dumped on your shoulders. Kai had always been beset by crippling self-confidence issues, no matter how many times he pulled off genuine bonafide miracles, always tending to dismiss them as products of luck rather than his incredible talent and courage. He _had_ seemed to get over them to some extent during his adventure on Alyina, but Victor knew the huge weight of responsibility now bearing down on him could easily cause him to slide backwards.

Truthfully, Victor suspected that as much as anything else, his mother had sent him out to reconnect among his close circle of friends to decompress from the sudden radical shifts his life had taken since returning from the Clan War, seeing the very real danger of Kai burning out or retreating back into his shell to escape the hammering of rapid changes to his world.

Victor snorted slightly at that thought, reflecting that at least _he _wasn't the only one whose world had been turned upside down.

Pulling himself up the vertical shaft with a practiced ease that spoke of spending a great deal of his recent life on board dropships, Victor stepped off two levels up, stepping into the main passage that contained the ships command deck. The ships flight deck was situated here, but Victor knew far better than to barge in when they were in the middle of the rather delicate process of putting over sixteen thousand tons of rather unwieldy dropship on the ground in one piece. Instead, he turned and walked to the other side of the corridor and the door marked GROUNDCOM, even as a series of klaxons and red flashing lights warned that they were 60 seconds out from their control burn. The lock light winked green at his access code and he grunted as he slid the armoured hatch open, stepping through easily, his relatively short size meaning he didn't have to duck anywhere near as much to do so as most other soldiers.

Three other people were lounging around the high-tech holotable that dominated the command centre, all three of them among his closest friends in the Galaxy. They had clearly been using the state of the art table as a makeshift poker table if the cards and chips scattered around were any indicator, but that game seemed to have been abandoned, with the trio also ignoring the bridge repeater screens tracking their descent in favour of the massive meter wide flatscreen vid mounted on the far bulkhead. Normally used to display a tactical map of an Area of Operations, it was currently displaying what could only be a news feed from the planet below; a bulletin about what was probably the major news story of the year.

"…_and rumour has it that Duchess Elsas sister, the Lady Anna, is even now arriving home escorting the rest of their extended family to join with her sister on this historic occasion" _an overly excited commentator in some kind of bizarre orange Hawaiian shirt announced rapidly on the screen._ "No sightings of Prince Victor as yet – but the stunning, _incredible_ revelation that he is _personally_ coming to invest our Duchess for his first act as March Lord has sent _shockwaves_ across the planet Kelly! Shockwaves I tell you! We were already expecting record crowds, but if you look behind me" _– and now the commentator paused to let the camera feed switch over to an elevated view above a throng of people, _"you can see that crowds are growing even beyond that and only expected to thicken as we get closer to the big day"_.

Victor _was_ impressed as he took in the high angle shot that brought in the true scale of the crowd. It was still over twenty four hours to go before the event itself, but already he could see there were easily _thousands_ –perhaps even _tens_ of thousands- of people camped out with a mixture of tents, sleeping bags and matts on the ground, staking out the best spots in a large open square opposite what had to be the formal seat of power on the planet in downtown Arendelle City. Giant screens had been erected at discrete points around the square to let the crowds watch what happened inside – and the whole thing had the air of a giant public festival.

Understandable perhaps as the local Government had declared what amounted to a five day weekend in celebration of the event.

"'Morning Colonel" Renny Sanderlin was the first to acknowledge his entrance, tossing him a casual salute as he drained the last of his coffee from a faded and chipped Zero-G LCAF mug as Victor moved to take a seat, the thirty second warning sounding as he did so. Renny was his old roommate from the Nagelring and one of the few close friends he could just be 'himself' with. "Looks like the secret is out".

"The advanced team were told to release the news when we hit six hours out" Victor explained as he strapped himself into one of the seats the ships Mech Commanders generally used, eyeing the others mug and wishing that he had swung by the galley and grabbed a cup for himself … but checked that thought as moments later the ship started to rock and vibrate as the main drives throttled up to a 2G deceleration burn.

It was _not _a good idea to walk around the ship with a cup of boiling hot coffee during such evolutions.

"The idea was that people waking up this morning in Arendelle city would get sprung with the surprise over breakfast, leaving little time for anyone disgruntled at their income tax returns this year to plot an assassination attempt" Victor continued casually as he raised an eyebrow at the other. "Which reminds me; Renny, Galen, you're still both more than welcome to tag along with Kai and myself tomorrow to the investment".

"Pass" the other declined, holding up a hand. "I got enough sleep on the burn inbound and you've already got Kai as a meat shield to hide behind at the ceremony if anyone takes a shot".

Galen Cox chuckled from his position off to the side, glancing up from what looked like a 'Lonely Sphere' travel guide for Arendelle before he glanced up.  
"I'll skip out too. You're already dragging me along to the reception in the evening; I'd rather not have to spend three _hours_ trying to stay awake in front of the entire planets media beforehand".

"Well it's not quite_ that_ bad" Victor objected mildly. "Granted … there may be a few boring bits before the Duchess shows. But technically I'll be holding court during the investment, so there is the ceremonial welcoming, shaking hands, handing out some public service awards, school kid choirs and the like to get through before I summon the Duchess. _But_ after that, the actual formalities should be over quickly and we'll flip to the formal reception at her palace. Where there will be a state dinner in her honour" Victor concluded, turning to give Renny a pointed look. "And _unlimited_ free booze".

"_That _is temping" Sanderlin reflected, the tall Mechwarrior frowning as he shifted under the two gravities of deceleration to try and get comfortable in his too-small seat as the ship corkscrewed around into a straight vertical descent. "But I earned enough betting on _him_" and now Renny jerked a thumb in the direction of the third person at the table "in the sim matches that I'm joining in the main bar crawl tonight with rest of the off duty rotation from the Guads. Rumour from those new _Alacorn_ jockeys from the OT&E unit working with Third Regiment says that Arendelle sells an export-illegal fifty-percent alcohol variant of Pharaoh Beer we've I've made it our mission to find. I'm sure Kai can wave the flag well enough without _my_ august presence".

"There were people on board stupid enough to bet _against _Kai in a simulation?" Victor blinked, a slightly incredulous tone leaking into his voice as he shot a look at the man in question who just smiled slightly, but didn't look away from the noteputer he was working on.

No shyness in that smile, just ego.

Which was a good sign. Kai had always been humble to the point of exasperation over his talent, no matter what stunning achievements he kept pulling off.

"Oh yeah. The newbies who transferred into the guards during the reshuffle back on New Avalon had never seen him in action" Renny chuckled, with a slightly self-satisfied tone. "Charles from Second Lance was able to convince a _depressingly_ large number of them that 'Kai The Monster' was just propaganda to keep Romano awake at night. He gave them excellent odds and convinced them to go all in when Kai came down to the simulators, said that the lance he was going up against would simply smother him with firepower in ten minutes flat".

"The poor bastards".

"Literally" Galen confirmed. "_I_ made two hundred c-bills off that match".

"Well, I like seeing friends get ahead" Victor shrugged before turning his attention back to Renny. "Still, I can't say you're going to be missing out on much apart from the free booze at the reception. It's just going to be a room full of people circling for an hour, then the banquet dinner, then _more_ circling and _then_ the drunken nobility being dragged out by their aides before they make a pass at the wrong person and start a ten year feud that ends with both sides starting to hire mercenaries to have a little proxy war".

"That actually _happens?"_

"Annoyingly, yes. Though it's quite rare, it's more of a Free Worlds League thing really. Although given that my Father started an interstellar war at his wedding with a toast to my Mother…"

"Sounds … interesting" Renny reflected, his tone still suggesting he saw no pressing reason to be forced into his Dress Uniform. Unlike Galen who was trapped by virtue of being well known as Victor's aide-de-camp and thus socially doomed to follow him to all these kinds of events, 'March Lords Former Roommate' _didn't_ automatically include him on the same guest lists.

And that was a perfectly satisfying state of affairs as far as Renny was concerned.

"So, anyone interesting coming for this investment – excepting us I mean?"

"I had a look over the guest list for the reception; mostly its regional nobility and a whole load of business interests from the big end of town. Coventry Metal Works, DiNapoli Industries, Weselton Heavy Industrial and Mining… Frankly at a first glance, you'd think this was less a reception for the duchess and more a business convention looking to divide the planet between themselves" Victor snorted. "With that said, if they _did_ have plans to make a bold move, you can bet they'll throw them out the window and stay as low profile as possible with me landing on top of them. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they all suddenly became almost _sickeningly_ sycophantic to the point that if Galen decides to punch one of them, they'll just thank him for delivering the beat down and ask for another - it they thought it might please me or help them get on my good side".

"Is that a blank cheque?" Galen asked with a raised eyebrow, suddenly seeming to rethink his opinion of being invited to the reception - if he could invoke the 'Trell-I option'.

"Let's … keep that option in reserve for now" Victor replied after a moment – but his mind _did _wander for a second to mull over the possibilities of bringing Galen along to the next social event Ryan Steiner was also due to attend. "I'm impressed that the locals were canny enough to invite all the major players to the big functions. These Mega-Corps don't kid around in trying to get in the door first, but they're _all_ being given the full VIP treatment. No favoritism".

"Leaving them out, or some of them out, would just invite those so spurned to get nasty with the planets Government instead of each other" Galen shrugged in response. "If the Duchess has to deal with them, she might as well let them fight among each other for a while before she opens up negotiations. And speaking of the Duchess" Galen switched topics, nodding at the screen, "I haven't heard much about her past these news reports – which are surprisingly thin, she sounds like a bit of a recluse. You have any idea about her Vic?"

Victor didn't reply immediately as the roar of the ships engines suddenly increased as they slid down the last few hundred feet towards the heavily reinforced ferocrete dropship bay, the massive ship delicately balanced on a pillar of fire as the most subtle adjustments were made in their trajectory. Instead, he refocused his attention on the vid screen, which was indeed showing rare public footage of the woman he had come to invest with the authority to rule on behalf of New Avalon.

At first glance she had reminded him greatly of Katherine. And with her platinum-blond hair, practiced smile and tall lithe figure it was a very easy comparison to make in his mind.

And yet, there was something decidedly _uncertain_ about her to his eye. He had been his parents enough as they had made public appearances to their adoring public that he could tell she lacked the almost unconscious projection of confidence his sister had inherited from them. On the screen, the Duchess Presumptive was holding herself just a _little_ too rigid as she waved to the crowd from the balcony she was standing on. Her bearing was just a _little_ too formal, a tad _too_ perfect and entirely too methodical as she turned to wave in one direction, then turned back precisely the same amount in the other direction.

It was as if the crowd of people cheering and waving at her from below with clear enthusiasm and affection were making her feel uneasy to the point that she was having to put a great deal of effort into controlling herself…

_Probably just nerves _Victor decided, dismissing the train of thought as the news flicked back to any number of local talking heads. He could barely hear them over the roar of thousands of tons of thrust, but he could make out just enough to realize that they were talking about _him _and _his_ love life – or lack of one- in the context of the Duchess and _her _love life … and he quickly reached out to close down the screen with a stab at the appropriate controls on the edge of the holotable, fighting off the flush that threatened to bloom on his face.

The ship rocked moments later as its landing skids kissed the ground of Arendalle for the first time. Massive hydraulic shock absorbers built into the landing struts sucked up the last of the ships momentum and eased it to the ground as the engines closed down - and then off, bringing blessed silence. Far taller than the typical _StarBarge_ and _Mule_ class dropships that generally landed here, the _Barbarossa _was far from the largest dropship in regular service, but it was certainly striking enough from its tall size and somewhat more prominent weapons mounts than the civilian ships carried. Capable of carrying a mixed unit of Mechs, Infantry, Tanks and Aerospace fighters roughly the size of a reinforced Battalion, it was the absolute minimum level of military protection his parents were willing to let him get away with following him around. 'Just in case'.

Even though the last time Arendelle had been attacked had been during the 1st Succession War, his parents simply refused to take chances.

"There's not a huge amount I know about her that isn't in Burke's Peerage" Victor continued into the sudden silence unstrapping himself from the chair and standing to stretch. No matter what the experts said, he could always tell the difference between simulated gravity through acceleration and honest to God _real _gravity. "Twenty one standard years as of a week ago, both parents dead in a dropship crash in 3050. One sister, Anna, who should be arriving today – apparently she's been living with relatives on Corana over the last few years. Oh and she's _extremely_ smart. Took the standard FedSuns curriculum in between her official duties with private tutors and ended up in the top point two percent of the curve – even through dealing with the impact of her parent's death".

"That _is _impressive" Galen commented with a look of surprise. "Arendelle has a population of what, two billion? That must be a pretty big class for her year".

"It did – but I meant that she topped the curve across the entire _March" _Victor clarified his statement, earning this time a low whistle from Galen and a muttering of 'not bad … for a Duchess' from Renny – which in turn earned an amused rolling of eyes from Victor.

Alone among their training company at the Nagelring, Renny had not held any kind of noble title, earning his position at the prestigious academy on pure merit – which was the _precise_ reason LIC had ensured Rennywas assigned as his roommate. The other members of his training unit had _mostly_ been tolerable, but it was an open secret that hordes of political favours had been traded around to get the scions of any number of noble families into his company specifically because of _his _presence. Some of them of … questionable … skill inside a Battlemech, who just wanted to try and use the whole process as a social climbing exercise.

Like that damn traitor Ciro Ramirez.

It _had_ meant that Renny had earned more than a few glares when he was assigned the coveted billet with Victor – and even more ire when it became clear that the two of them had become fast friends.

And Renny had taken a somewhat _dim_ view of most of the next generation of middle level nobility in the Federated Commonwealth in return.

But some members of the Nobility _were _genuinely impressive figures beyond their names, who had earned the right to be called special. And for this woman to achieve such an incredible result despite the horrible tragedy of her parents deaths and the burdens she had been forced to start shouldering, said more about her character to Victor than any number of psych profiles that had been included with her file.

"Okay so she's brilliant and isn't _exactly_ an eyesore" Renny continued as he unstrapped himself and stretched, before pausing and raising an eyebrow in sudden consideration. "She, uh, seeing anyone right now?"

"I … don't know. Her MIIO file didn't exactly include her dating activities" Victor replied, slightly nonplussed at the question.

"And why the hell not?" Renny huffed. "What the _hell_ do I pay taxes towards an intelligence agency for anyway, if not for detailed intelligence reports on the relationship status of attractive young women on planets we're going to?"

"I'll be sure to pass your complaint on to Alex Mallory the next time I see him" Victor actually smiled before his expression twitched slightly and his amusement faded as the topic stirred up his own feelings, causing him to sigh. "Then again, I'm expecting that from this point forward, I'll be getting reports on the relationship status of every single female Noble within the entire Commonwealth forwarded to me by their families".

It wasn't _quite_ an exaggeration.

Now that he was _officially_ moving into high political office, he was dreading the flood of suitors and interested parties who were already no doubt drawing up their plans – Victor having been essentially 'off limits' while serving with the AFFC. There was no pressure from his parents on this front, at least not _yet_ … but the honest truth was that Victor had little to no interest in courting. He was sure there were any number of stunning, eager young woman who would be climbing over each other and up the walls of Castle Davion or the Triad for even a slim chance at winning his hand, but his _heart_ was still not in the best shape for such thoughts, lost somewhere hundreds of light years away across the border with the Draconis Combine.

"You're thinking about Omi again, aren't you" Kai's voice suddenly crashed into his thoughts, joining the conversation for the first time with all the tact and subtlety of an Assault Mech, completely unphased by Victor's sharp look in response.

But there was no judgement or censure in Kais gaze though, just sympathy that said he understood – and Victor reminded himself that Kai had not exactly had the best recent luck with _his _love life either.

So Victor just sighed and among his closest friends, let himself be honest and open.

He had few chances to be so _open_ after all.

"It's … easier than it was" he admitted finally. He had never _meant _to fall in love with Omi; God knows that it was perhaps the _single_ most complicated possible romantic choice he could have made short of Kali Liao. Their parents had allowed the communications to flow backwards and forwards in the hope that it would help lay the groundwork for a lasting truce, if not later a lasting peace. And indeed, he deeply valued the friendship he had cultivated with Hohiro. A friendship that had formed in spite of Hohiros initially less than pleased reaction, before he had quietly given his blessing after Kais quiet intervention.

Perhaps it had only ever been a dream, a _shared_ dream that in their heats they _knew_ they would have to wake up from one day. One stolen kiss on Outreach that still burned in his memory and nothing more … but no matter the months that had passed since her final message, her memory _still_ shone brightly in his mind eclipsing even the _possibility_ of anyone else entering that part of his life.

"I know it was something that could never work out in the longer term" Victor continued. "But the way it ended … I never even got the chance to say goodbye to her Kai" he continued after a moment to centre himself. "Even a damn holodisk to say farewell might have been enough…"

"So send her one" Kai shrugged as he stood, causing all three other people in the rooms head to swivel around and focus on him.

"Ah, Kai" Renny cleared his throat, clearly trying to choose his words carefully as he exchanged a glance with Galen, "Theodore demanded as the price for allowing Victor to rescue Hohiro-"

"-that she would never communicate with himagain, yes yes, I got the story from the Gunny" the Capellan waved dismissively, ignoring the exasperated look on Victors face at the fact that the NCO grapevine, as always, knew _everything_. "Victor, I hate to be the one to point it out to you, but as I understand it, Theodore never said that _you_ couldn't send _her_ a message – just that _she _would be forbidden from contacting _you_".

Victor distantly felt his start to jaw drop open for a moment before he snapped it shut, as Kais words hit him. Almost franticly, he found himself replaying Omis holodisk in his head, every single world long burned into his head with perfect clarity…

'…_In return for permission to give my brother this one chance at life, I agreed never to communicate with you again. As much as that hurts me personally, I know Hohiro's death would hurt the Combine more. Like you, I am trapped by who I am. Forgive me.'_

How in the hell had he missed that distinction?

Hot on the heels of the hope that suddenly spiked into his chest though, was a dread and a worry. Because now with the question of 'if he _could' _answered in the affirmative, he was left open to the far more dangerous question of ifhe _should_.

It would it be crueller to simply leave her hanging. Never hearing from him and allowing the vague hope that one day, somehow, it would all work out … but could _he_ summon the courage to tear apart _his _heart? Even if it was the _last_ thing he wanted, could be bring himself to close the door rather than maintain the vague illusion of hope for his love to one day, somehow...

"I'm not surprised you missed it" Kai continued, snapping his attention back at once to the other Mechwarrior who was staring at him, apparently taking his frozen expression of uncertainty for one of stunned surprise. "It's an Asian cultural thing that's more common across the Combine and Confederation. Where what is _not _said is often much more important that what _is _said and you learn to listen for the difference".

"Kai, I don't know how I ever managed without you" Victor sighed, offering a smile back at the other for his honest efforts, a pang in his chest making him realize just how much he _had _missed Kai for those dark months when he had thought he was dead.

"I'd imagine you did quite poorly" Kai sniffed in a friendly sort of way, clearly not letting the statement stand as a rhetorical one and also clearly not meaning any insult by it.

"Poorly indeed" Victor nodded back at him, remembering the horror in his heart he had felt as Yen-Lo-Wang had gone pin wheeling off a cliff dragging a Clan Omnimech with it and knowing how incredibly lucky he really _was_ to have Kai back from the dead with him. "Poorly indeed my friend".

A sudden crackle over the ships PA summoning both he and his ground party to the ships primary Mech deck seemed to provide a natural end to the conversation at that point. Renny waved them out as he started cleaning up the remains of the poker game to put the room back in order for the staff officers who would take it back over it shortly, Victor having used his rank to simply take over the room for his friends to have somewhere to be themselves. Galen and Kai followed Victor out and into the tiny access lift that ran down the core of the ship. Thirty seconds later they stepped out into the core of the ship and Victor felt a familiar surge of energy as he took in the view.

Around him packed tightly in the cramped space were twelve Battlemechs, the most powerful ground going war machines known to mankind. They all but gleamed in high-gloss 'dress' paint, even under the subdued lighting, yet still managed to lend an air of faintly menacing power to the bay that reminded everyone that these were _not_ toys or showpieces. Eleven of them proudly wore the dark blue and gold of the Lyran Guards while the twelfth machine, a fifty ton _Centurion _–with what looked suspiciously like a squad from the 314th Mobile Infantry standing in front of it taking a group photo- wore the light green and ivory of the 1st Saint Ives Lancers.

The bay was swarming with activity. Dozens of technicians were already climbing all over the titans, starting pre-deployment checks only minutes after touchdown, which spoke highly of their efficiency. While the unit was grounded, the battalion would be living in Fort Akershus, the local base conveniently attached to the Spaceport. It was mostly used as a staging ground for units deploying to or coming back from the Periphery March into the Crucis march. And even though they were hardly the same quality of accommodation as the barracks complex back on New Avalon, after the cramped conditions on board the _Barbarossa_ Victor knew from personal experience that it would feel like a five star resort.

But he wouldn't be joining them.

Victor had walked into bays like this literally hundreds of times over his career with the AFFC and they had never failed to fill him with a sense of awe, looking up at the massive war machines that it was his privilege to command and pilot. From the agile birdlike figure of Rennys shiny new _Raven _to the massive brooding presence of his own _Daishi _off to the side everything seemed familiar, but Victor couldn't help but feel subtly out of place for the first time as he walked to meet the cluster of people waiting for him. Because rather than the duty uniforms, dress uniforms or MechWarrior combat gear had had always worn before in such locations … he was wearing a _suit_.

A suit of the finest quality no less, from Harrold's Lane on Thakard. Cut in the classical Davion style but dyed a dark Steiner navy blue it fit like a glove as would be expected from such a reputable firm that had serviced the Steiner family for centuries … and yet it made him fell as much of an outsider among 'his' people on the 'Mech Deck right now as a DEST Commando would be at an Omniss family farm reunion in the Outworlds Alliance.

Pushing past the disagreeable feelings as best he could and projecting a confident gait, he walked across the deck, stepping around the activity to approach the cluster of people standing just inside the ships primary personnel airlock. Two AFFC Jump infantry in light combat armour carrying combat shotguns seconded to the ships Marine detail snapped to attention as he approached – but kept their eyes on the pair of civilians in seemingly identical black suits waiting for him.

"Highness" the lead trooper greeted him from behind his mirrored visor –and Victor fought back the urge to sigh at the use of his _title_ rather than his _rank_. It was absoloutly correct of the man of course, as he was out of uniform meaning he had his 'March Lord' hat on, but it still annoyed him to be so addressed by a man he had once commanded in such a fashion.

_Better get used to it Victor _he chided himself.

"Corporal" he returned the man's greeting with a nod.

"Highness, these are Agents Curaitis and Samuals from ISB" the Marine introduced the two impassive MIBs standing a few meters away, just inside the airlock. "Their credentials are fully in order and their authorizations check out against the day codes issued by MIIO for the advanced team".

"Very well, dismissed" he nodded and the corporal nodded and jerked his head at his partner, the two soldiers retreating back several meters to give them room in the cramped quarters as Victor advanced to face them, settling a bland smile on his face. "Agent Curaitis, Agent Samuals, my apologies for dragging you out here on such short notice".

"It's not a problem highness" the taller of the two said with a nod as Victor extended his hand. The other took it and shook it quickly, firmly and made no test of strength in doing so, but Victor could feel the iron in the grip and even a brief glance at the others face and icy eyes showed that despite his relatively young age, Agent Curaitis was certainly no rookie. In fact, according to the note Alex Mallory had sent him among all the files, he was one of the most promising agents in the Intelligence Secretariat Bureau. And probably much like him, the man had been given this job to see if he was up for the bigger, more political assignments. "Agent Samuals is the bravo team detail leader and acting as my second in command" he said as he released Victors hand and gestured to the other, who nodded behind his incredibly cliché sunglasses that Curaitis apparently disdained. "The spaceport is secure and the welcoming party is waiting to greet you. The rest of your close protection detail are waiting outside".

"How many more agents in the detail?" Galen asked as Victor gestured the group forward, Agent Samuals drifting behind them to bring up the rear as they moved through the tight airlock. Behind him, the two Marines followed, but stopped at the hatchway itself, sealing the inner door behind them as they started their sentry duty.

"Seventy six" the other replied curtly, causing Victors head to come around with a raised eyebrow.

"Seventy _six" _he echoed, fighting _very _hard to keep the sarcasm out of his voice as they walked down into the massive ferrocrete walls of the docking bay. "Doesn't that sound a little excessive Agent Curaitis?"

"Frankly, it's barely enough Highness" the other corrected him without breaking step, gesturing to a quartet of agents waiting at the end of the narrow gangway in a small annex who fell into formation without a word as they breezed past. "You have Six agents directly on the immediate protection detail. Four here and two more at the arrival gate" the other explained without breaking step, leading them with an unerring sense of direction through service passages and back passages secured by local police and security, bypassing most of the public areas with constant radio chatter passing back and forth from the other agents as they noted their progress.

"There are also fifteen agents in plain clothes throughout the immediate welcoming committee and public galleries, running sweeps with covert explosives and bio-threat detection gear" Curatis continued explaining as they walked. "Twenty agents manning the vehicles to take us to the hotel. Twenty agents in _Infiltrator _Battle Armor with two fire teams on an orbiting _Karnov_ for quick response and the remaining ten positioned as overwatch snipers along the planned route and fifteen agents running the communications and support vehicles. Plus twice that many agents for the two other rotations to provide full coverage and all the ancillary support staff, of course".

"Of course" Victor replied, biting back his first impulse to ask the other if he was not being just a _tad _paranoid, knowing _exactly_ what answer he would get to that question. The Intelligence Secretariats unofficial motto was 'even paranoid people have real enemies' for a good reason.

Instead he kept his thoughts to himself as they wound their way through the secured maintenance passages and private passages until they stepped back into what could only be a VIP private passage, if the wood panelling and high quality carpet was any indication, through a door guarded by a pair of local police officers flanked by the final two agents of his protection detail. One of the former promptly raising a radio at their approach and sending a quick message.

Moments later in the near distance, a band started playing and Victor cocked his head before he recognized the strains of 'Hail to the Prince'; an ancient repetitive bit of music used to announce the arrival of senior members of the Davion Family in the Federated Suns. It had always been played for his Father when he had entered an event on New Avalon …

But this was the first time it was being played for _him_.

That fact, that simple musical tune, shook him quite a bit more than he would have thought possible as his friends and security agents stepped out single file through the narrow door. More than the fancy ceremony on New Avalon, more than his Father dumping the files in his lap and more than the suit; that music being played to welcome the guest of honour suddenly made him realize that he was now inexorably committed to the new phase of his life. He had to leave behind the Mechwarrior and become the March Lord, had to dive into the murky world of politics and perception he barely understood.

He paused for a moment, trying and failing to focus himself, feelings of resignation and perhaps even resentment that the day he had always knew was coming, but hoped _somehow_ wouldn't, had arrived.

The second he walked out of the gate at the end of this corridor … his old life would forever be altered as he took on the ultimate responsibility for this world and a great many others.

And a new life would begin.

Well, much as he might have wanted to, there was certainly no point putting it off. And he would be damned before he embarrassed his family or his nation by shirking his responsibility.

"We all ready?" Victor asked, glancing to Kai and Galen, who had moved to flank him on the left and right.

"Are you?" the later asked pointedly, clearly having no problems reading his mood.

"As I'll ever be" he replied with complete honesty as he took a deep breath and tried to let the tension out, with little success, fighting the urge to fiddle with his jackets cuffs and nodding at Curaitis. "Let's go meet the public, shall we?"

Together, the trio started moving and knowing his friends had his back did help him at least _project _a confidence he didn't really feel. The cloud of agents around him spread out a little into a looser bubble to give him some room in the empty passage, Curaitis chatting away on the microphone built into his suits cuff as he led his people in, making final checks as he let out the word that it was 'game time'. The music grew louder as they came around a final corner, the glass doors now in sight with what looked like _very _bright lights from any number of TV crews on the far side awaiting him. Stealing himself and drawing himself upright while allowing a practiced pleasant smile to paint his face, Victor strode forward, vaguely noting the cross corridor to his right that fuzzed with their own into a single passage as he walked past it-

And then a blur of red hair slammed into him.

He staggered, but kept his feet nimbly as he reacted to the surprise encounter. The other person – a young woman he determined as he refocused his gaze- came off worse, reeling away from him with a squeak and threatening to fall right over on her back. Operating on pure instinct, he reached out and grabbed her upper arm as she threatened to topple, stabilising her enough to let her get her feet planted and stagger to a halt.

After a moment of stunned shock at the completely unexpected event, Victors bodyguards started to move as one, several of them reaching into their coats including a suddenly red faced Agent Curaitis who had spun around from his point position with a needle pistol seeming to all but materialize in his hand he was bringing to bear on the sudden target. But he and all the other bodyguards halted as Victor snapped up his free palm behind the newcomers back, reinforcing the gesture with a look of pure command forged in the heat of gruelling battles at the lead agent.

Curaitis backed off, albeit grudgingly, lowering his weapon and waving the rest of the cloud of agents back to form a perimeter. But the Agents gaze didn't waver for a second from the person who had just made his entire team look like a bunch of idiots barely five minutes after meeting up with his principal.

"Are you alrig-"

"Sorry sorry sorry!" the newcomer suddenly exploded into voice as Victor gently released his grip and stepped back to give her some room. "God I am being such a _me_ today! I wasn't paying attention and was thinking –well _sort_ of thinking, I guess I wasn't _really _thinking – and _really _wasn't paying attention because I'm probably running late and ruining everything and I've only been back for like an hour and already everything is going wrong and oh God, I'm just going on and on and I really need to get going because I'll be national news if screw all this up-"

Victor blinked at the other as words simply poured out of her like water from a high pressure hose. She was young, younger than him, probably barely an adult if he was any judge. She was taller than him –what was new there?- but only by a matter of a few centimeters, with quite striking red hair that at once reminded him of his younger sister Yvonne.

Although her rapid fire talking without the need for anything as human as taking in oxygen, reminded him far more of his younger brother, Arthur.

Her skin was mildly freckled which only added to the almost overwhelming 'cute' factor and her eyes were a rather soft blue that, for some reason, Victor was instantly sure he had seen before.

Recently.

"-and so I'm really _really _sorry, uh, you" she suddenly finished, seeming to have finally run out of oxygen for the moment, her gaze flicking between himself, Kai and Galen, with an impossibly cute wince plastered on it as if she was expecting to be scolded.

"It's perfectly fine" he assured her, finding something impossibly _warm_ in her bubbly presence that seemingly burned away the brooding cloud that had been hanging over him and a slight, but genuine smile worked its way onto his face. "Are _you_ okay though?"

"Oh that depends on who you ask" she laughed at herself shamelessly. "But I, uh, seem to be in one piece. I think" she added, glancing down at herself as if checking. "Although this is the third time I've almost crashed into someone in the last ten minutes".

"Perhaps … you may wish to consider slowing down slightly?" Kai suggested, a smile crossing his face as he too seemed to lift in the presence of this charmingly excitable woman.

"Or you could always invest in a crash helmet" Galen helpfully suggested, drawing a mild rebuke of a look from Victor.

"Oh I don't have time to slow down, I'm running late for this whole welcoming committee for me!" she suddenly fretted, as if remembering, whirling to glance down the passage, past the bodyguards –Victor noted Curaitis's gun had vanished into his jacket again as quickly as it had appeared- to the frosted glass doors, beyond which the music was still cheerfully thumping out.

"To welcome _you_?" Victor started to question her, but then his eyes caught sight of the clip holding her hair in place as she turned her back.

He had been around more than enough jewellery over his life at Court to have a decent ability to tell the difference between _real _quality jewellery and cheap knockoff stuff. And even at a glance he could tell that _this _did not belong to the latter category, not in the slightest. The green and purple background and the green crocus flowers at once caught his eye and his mind resolved them into the national symbols of this world … and then while looking at the jewellery, he noticed the very distinctive streak of white in her hair running down through the ponytail …

And suddenly in a perfect moment of revelation he _knew _who this had to be, a file photo years out of date but suddenly superimposing itself on his mind flashing to the fore.

"I … don't think you have to worry about _them_ terribly much, my Lady Jorgensson" he said as the other turned back around, feeling without seeing the sudden looks from Galen and Kai at the use of that name. "I have a _strong_ feeling they'll wait for you".

"I suppose you're right" she sighed. "Then again, I'm just the 'other' sister coming back home after so many years – um … sorry, have we met before?" she cut herself off as the train of thought came to a screaming halt, as her mind caught up to Victors earlier use of her name.

"No, we haven't" Victor assured her, fighting himself as his smile threatened to break out into a grin, just enjoying the moment as it was clear that she didn't recognize him or the people around him.

Which was, frankly, a refreshing change of pace.

"I am, in fact, _very_ pleased to finally meet you" he asserted, reaching out gently to take her hand and raising it to gently kiss the back of it as was proper for greeting a woman of her stature and rank. "My parents have told me several _interesting_ stories about your parents - and they hold a great deal of affection for both you and your sister".

"Oh, um, thanks, I guess!" Anna replied, blushing charmingly at his gesture with her hand. "I suppose that makes sense. So, you're here for the investment of my sister and all that?"

"Exactly so" Victor smiled back at her as he released her hand. "It took a _little_ rescheduling, but it just wouldn't have been _right_ for me to miss this ceremony – and my parents insisted that I come".

The noise from Kai off to his right sounded suspiciously like he was desperately trying to hold a straight face together.

Anna though, just continued to smile with guileless cheerfulness.

"Well then" she said, drawing herself up _almost _formally, but not losing the openly friendly air as she did so. "Um, on behalf of my sister and the people of this world, welcome to Arendelle!" she smiled brightly. "I hope you'll have a great time – we can throw a pretty _terrific_ party when we put our minds to it. So, I'll see you at the investment tomorrow?"

"From what I understand, yes you should" Victor grinned with a slight laugh, neatly covering the strangled snort that came this time from Galen. "And we'll be attending the reception later that evening as well. I presume, of course, that you will be at both?"

"Uh yes, of course!" Anna nodded enthusiastically. "Hopefully I won't make _too_ much of an idiot of myself in front of the nobility coming in from off-world, apparently in these investments the First Prince sends a personal representative. And I really _really _don't want to embarrass my sister" she continued, her smile seeming to fade slightly as her head dropped and she started fiddling with her hands absently. "It's … well, it's been a while since I've seen her. And … I don't want embarrass her … by, well, being _me_".

"Anna…" Victor hesitated as her bubbly persona seemed to vanish as if a switch had been thrown, somewhat awed by just how openly this woman wore her heart on her sleeve. Not that her blouse _had _sleeves mind you.

He felt a sudden pang of envy in that, in how she refused to put on a mask like _he_ was so often forced to do and almost without thinking, he reached out to gently put his hands on her shoulders, feeling somehow that it was almost _imperative_ that he cheer her back up.

"_Anna_" he tried again as her head came back up with the second use of her name. "I don't think you could _possibly _embarrass your sister by being yourself. In the two minutes since you crashed into me, you've managed to make me feel more welcome on this world than entire ticket tape parades have on others – without even trying, without even realizing it. That … is an incredibly rare gift. Please; _never _stop being you".

Anna once again had the grace to blush as Victor let get and stepped back, the other glancing at him, then seeming to finally notice Kai and Galen next to him.

"Ohh I'm sorry, where are my manners!" she suddenly blurted, sidestepping Victor to offer her hand almost shyly to Galen. "Anna Jorgensson".

"Kommandant Galen Cox" Galen introduced himself with a smile, and for once he actually raised her hand to his mouth to kiss it in a way he rarely did when faced with nobility, his sentiments not _quite _as skeptical as Renny, but not far off either. Clearly, he was rather charmed by her too. Victor saw Anna tilt her head for a moment, probably having heard the name before on some news piece or propaganda broadcast and trying to remember where, but in the end she just returned his smile and backed past Victor to again offer her hand, this time to Kai.

"Anna Jorgensson" she again introduced herself with a smile, and Kai again kissed her hand, somehow adding a very Capellan Bow while doing so, as Kai too returned her incredible infectious smile with one of his own.

"Kai Allard-Liao" he gave his name, following Victors lead in omitting his varied titles and honorifics –that he didn't much care for anyway- in staying under the radar.

It was a futile gesture in Victors mind and, indeed, only a second or two later Annas eyes almost seemed to bulge out of her face. Kais name had been trumpeted from one side of the Federated Commonwealth to the other both during the Clan War and again quite recently after the major changes inside the Confederation itself. And as she let get and seemed almost to shrink back before them, Annas gaze came back around to focus on Galen, her lips soundlessly repeating his name … and then _another _flash of sudden recognition passed over her face as it apparently 'clicked'.

Then her face snapped back to Victors and started to go pale as she put it all together.

"And … you …" she asked in a tiny voice with wide eyes that said she knew _exactly _who he was.

Victor sighed and offered her a wan smile anyway.

"Victor Steiner-Davion at your service, my lady" he said, striving as best he could for a friendly, gentle tone … because right now she looked like she might just faint right there.

Anna didn't move for about five seconds after Victor supplied his name.

She didn't even appear to be _breathing_ for that matter.

Then she made some kind of strangled sound as if she was _trying_ to talk, which seemed to unfreeze her muscles, and she started to hurriedly drop down into a curtsey.

"Please Anna, _don't_" he asked her quickly, freezing her in place once again looking incredibly unsure, so he stepped forward and gently encouraged her back to her feet.

_To _hell_ with Royal Protocol _he suddenly decided almost contemptuously as he cut through to the heart of the matter.

"Anna, our parents were close. So much so that _my_ Mother considered _your_ Mother one of her closest friends. I … would very much like for _us_ to be friends and dispense with any silly formality. At least in private where we don't have to play our roles, you can do away with all the annoying formality if you'll let me do the same with you".

The other appeared to consider this for a moment, but only a moment before a smile once again exploded onto her face. Good _Lord _this woman could give you whiplash from how fast she could bounce back to cheerfulness!

"Uh, right, your High … um … friendshipness" Anna offered an almost cheeky smile, and Victor couldn't help but laugh at that, the mood once again lifting as she settled herself. "So …" she paused as if in thought, then offered her hand out again to him much more casually, clearly suggesting that they start over. "I'm Anna – and I'm pleased to meet you!"

"Victor" he took her hand and shook it with a broad smile of his own, wondering just how this woman could be so incredibly … _infectious_ … with her emotions, as he suddenly decided that this whole March Lord business might not be quite as tediously monotonous as he thought it was going to be. "And I am _very_ pleased to meet _you_".

"Highness…" Curaitis's voice broke into their conversation, and Victor glanced past Anna to see the agent was actually wearing a slightly apologetic expression at interrupting the moment. "The reception?"

"Ah yes, _that_. Well I suppose we should get going before the poor musicians have a heart attack" Victor suggested, although he knew they had only been playing for a couple of minutes, perfectly normal for these kinds of events as people waited for the VIPs to show up. Hail To the Prince had been written very specifically to be switched at almost any point in the music to the brief fanfare that announced the arrival of the VIP in question, for that express point.

"Uh … I think I was supposed to be on the other side of this door, to greet you" Anna blurted, sounding almost guilty.

"Well _that_ sounds incredibly boring" Victor scoffed, wondering if the cheerfully irreverent disposition of this woman was somehow infectious given the sudden mischievousness that blew through him as he stepped forward and offered her his arm. "How about we just cause the scandlevids to go berserk for a few days by entering together? Then you can show me and my friends around Arendelle city for the next hour or two before we hit the hotel?"

Anna blinked, then giggled, then bounded forward to link her arm with his proffered arm.

"It would be my pleasure – do you like chocolate?" she suddenly switched topics in a way that Victor suspected would happen a _lot _with this woman.

"Who doesn't?" he confirmed with a snort, deciding it was clearly a rhetorical question.

"Then I know where our first stop _has_ to be" she grinned and Victor felt a smile resonate back onto his face as the door opened ahead of them, the quartet of old and new friends stepping out into a whirlwind of light and sound that engulfed them.


End file.
